Bravo's Kid
by DianneRose2016
Summary: When Bravo gets a new member ordered onto them, they never expected it would be a sixteen-year-old kid. All they want is for him to disappear and quit the military. But appearances can be deceiving and Bravo has to decide if they are going to keep him or pass him off. If they do keep him, can they really handle not only having a kid on their team but also raising him?
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: I wanted to do something completely different to Bravo and I haven't seen a story like this. For some reason, it is stuck in my head so I am going to write it and see how people take it. This is going to be set sometime after Alana dies and Jason has his own apartment with extra rooms for the kids. The apartment looks better than the one he has in the show, similar to what Clay has in the show.**_

_**Summary: When Bravo gets a new member ordered onto them, they never expected it would be a sixteen-year-old kid. All they want is for him to disappear and quit the military. But appearances can be deceiving and Bravo has to decide if they are going to keep him or pass him off. If they do keep him, can they really handle not only having a kid on their team, but also raising him? There is more pain behind those blue eyes than any of them ever expected. **_

_**Warnings: Past child abuse, bullying both past and present, swearing, violence, and light sexual assault (touching).**_

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Chapter 1

Bravo was currently sitting in their war room waiting on their next set of orders. They had all been called down here at three in the morning and none of them were happy about it. They knew it happens all the time, but they were really hoping they would have been able to sleep tonight. They had been doing a lot of missions recently, only getting a day to sit before going back out. It had been a hussle and once again they were back in here. Only this time Blackburn wasn't here yet.

"What the hell is going on?" Sonny demanded, looking at Mandy and Davis.

"I have no idea." Davis answered.

"Don't know. We have an op that we need to go over, but Blackburn isn't here." Mandy said.

"Something must have happened to call him away. Maybe the op isn't green lit anymore." Ray said, slightly hoping they could go back to bed.

"One could hope." Jason agreed.

The room to the door opened and Blackburn stormed in, slamming the door behind him. Everyone was shocked, it wasn't often that Blackburn showed just how angry he was. Yes he has yelled many times, but he's never walked into a room like that before.

"What's going on?" Jason asked.

"Bullshit, that's what." Blackburn snapped.

Everyone was now even more shocked and starting to worry. If Blackburn was this pissed off and showing it, then something serious was happening.

"Alright, what's up?" Sonny asked.

Blackburn ran his hand over his face to try and calm himself down. They didn't have long before they would need to leave and this had to be addressed before they got onto the plane. After a moment Blackburn turned his attention to his team.

"We are getting a new member, he will be here within minutes so we don't have long."

"You're this upset about a new member? Green Team is still in training so is he a transfer?" Ray asked.

"He was promoted to Tier One status without Green Team. The promotion is not the issue. He's sixteen."

"Whoa what?" Sonny demanded.

"What the hell are you talking about? He can't be sixteen, he can't even enlist until he's eighteen." Jason said, not happy about whatever game seems to be going on.

"He's sixteen and he's going to be here in a few minutes to go on this mission. So stop with the questions and listen to me." Blackburn ordered.

Everyone stayed quiet and looked at him, waiting to hear the explanation.

"His name is Clay Spenser and yes he is Ash Spenser's son. His mother died when he was one from drugs and Ash shipped him off to Africa to live with his parents. His parents were aid workers and lived in war zones. Clay grew up around war and violence. At seven rebels raided the aid camp, killing and raping women and children. Clay's grandparents were killed right in front of him. The rebel that did it captured Clay and brought him back to their base to turn into a child soldier. The rebel had beaten him and was about to rape him, when Clay at seven, grabbed the gun that the rebel left on the ground, put it to the man's head and killed him. He was then able to escape and ran until he found another aid camp. Seven years old. He spent the next four years traveling around Africa with this new aid group, still going through war zones and seeing horrific things. At eleven a military cargo plane landed to bring aid supplies, Clay snuck on and hid on the plane. The crew didn't know he was there until they were already in the air on their way back. They found out he was Ash's son and they brought him back to the States and got him back into Ash's custody. I'm assuming Ash found out what Clay had been through and he saw the perfect opportunity to make an even bigger asshole of himself. He worked with a couple of Admirals and Commanders that were more interested in power than morals. At the age of twelve Clay was enlisted into the Navy until the age of twenty-one. There was no boot camp, no training, he was just thrown into a unit and sent off on missions."

Blackburn paused to allow all of the information to sink in. He could see the anger in all of their eyes. Only Ray and Jason had kids in the room, but that didn't change that everyone loved kids. Ray's and Jason's kids were all of their kids. They were all uncles and aunts to them. They did what they did to provide a safer home for kids all over the country. To hear that the military, the government that they fight to protect has allowed a twelve year old to be in the military was a slap to the face to all of them.

"How the hell is he still alive?" Brock asked shocked.

"The units must have protected him." Trent said.

"They didn't. As you can imagine no one took it well to having a child in their unit. Clay had been placed on a strict training schedule for the first two years, but nothing since then. For the first two years he learned hand to hand combat and shooting. Upper Brass says he's a child prodigy with a gun. He's one of the best snipers the whole military has, his longest shot is four thousand yards away."

"Holy shit." Ray said impressed.

"You said two years, it's been four, what about the last two years?" Jason asked.

"Nothing. He only got two years and then it was placed on the unit to continue his training. From what I gathered from the meeting, it didn't happen. They didn't tell me anything about what past missions he's been on or what teams he was on. But he's being placed on Bravo and we have a mission we need to leave for. We have no choice but to bring him along." Blackburn said.

"Fine, we bring him along, leave his ass on the plane and when we get back ship him back off to Daddy." Sonny said.

"I hate to say it, but Sonny is right. He can't operate, he's not even old enough to vote. He doesn't belong here and he doesn't have anywhere near the level of training he needs for these ops. He needs to go home." Ray said pissed that this was getting dropped onto them.

"We don't have a choice right now, but to take him. But when we get back we refuse to take him. The Upper Brass can't make us take on a liability like this." Jason said.

"They can't. We can refuse to accept him and then he will be transferred to another team." Blackburn said.

"Perfect, we refuse. Let someone else deal with the little brat." Sonny said.

"Who gets him though?" Brock asked.

"Another team, best guess Charlie." Blackburn said.

"Perfect he can be Beau's problem. He'll leave him sitting on the plane until eventually the kid will quit." Jason said with a smile. Happy to give Beau something to be annoyed with.

"The kid comes with a long list of regulations." Blackburn said, as he handed the file over to Davis to go over. "One of them is so many hours in the field each month or he's at risk of being in violation and then some type of punishment follows. What it is isn't disclosed just says it will be handled by Ash. Those regulations were drawn up by Ash and the kid is expected to follow them. Other teams he's been on have had someone reporting back to Ash to ensure the kid has followed the rules."

"Wow, father of the year." Davis said sarcastically.

"So he stays on the plane this mission and he becomes someone else's problem. Bravo is the best Tier One team, and we need them doing the missions that no one else is capable of doing. That does not include having to babysit some brat. The kid isn't our problem." Mandy said, not happy about the added annoyance to this mission.

"We can deal with it when we get back." Blackburn said.

The room to the door opened and everyone turned to look at who they knew would be the new kid walking in. Clay was not a very big kid. He was average height, but he was thin, roughly a hundred pounds and at five foot seven, that wasn't good. He had dirty blonde hair that was slightly wavy and his eyes were blue. He looked exhausted and very small in his combat uniform. They could all tell he was unsure of himself and he knew that he didn't belong. He didn't move to sit down, he stayed just on the other side of the doorway waiting for orders.

"I'm sorry to interrupt Sir." Clay said politely.

"It's alright we were just about to get started." Blackburn said warmly.

Mandy didn't even wait for anyone else to say something. She immediately started the debriefing. The whole time she spoke Clay stayed where he was, behind everyone else by the door. He didn't say anything, didn't ask any questions. He stayed silent and still the whole time, almost as if he didn't move or make a sound they would forget he was there. When it was over everyone stood and Jason turned to face Clay. He could see the kid was nervous and very unsure about all of this. He didn't seem like the type to have much attitude or confidence in himself. It made sense though considering his past, his age and what he would have been through since being in the military.

"You got your gear?" Jason asked.

"Yes Sir."

"Hanger nine, we'll meet you out on the tarmac. Make sure you have your stuff."

"Yes Sir."

Jason headed out and Clay made sure he followed behind him. Jason headed off for the cages where he knew his team would be freaking out in. He himself was pissed off and not happy about any of this. He walked in and saw that everyone was already standing around arguing.

"I say we leave him behind." Sonny said.

"Kinda hard to leave him behind when he's gonna be on the plane with us." Ray argued.

"He shouldn't be going. We're heading into a hostile area kissing Iran. It's too dangerous." Brock said.

"Look, we can't change that he's coming. He'll be on the plane and when we get back he'll be shipped off to someone else for them to deal with. For now, we tolerate him. Try to be nice, it's not his fault he got stuck with a shitty father." Jason said, heading over to his cage to grab his things.

"He seemed really nervous and shy." Brock said.

"He seemed thin. And exhausted." Trent said.

"He's probably not getting enough sleep or to eat with being on ops." Ray said.

"Just another reason why kids don't belong in this life." Sonny grumbled.

"There's nothing we can do about it. Jay's right, he doesn't need us giving him shit or being an ass to him. He didn't look like he wanted to be here any more than we want him here, but he's stuck. The least we can do is not be assholes to him." Ray said grabbing his gear.

"Ya alright, suppose you're right." Sonny agreed.

They all grabbed their gear and headed out to the hanger. They saw that Davis had taken Clay onto the plane and was helping him get his gear put away properly. They all walked in and got themselves organized and hung their hammocks. They had a good fourteen hours before they would land, so they could get some sleep. They noticed that Clay didn't hang a hammock and Jason headed over to Davis to see if the kid even had one.

"Kid got a hammock?"

"He does." Davis said back, but kept her voice softer.

She looked over and saw that Clay was standing alone waiting for when the plane would take off.

"Why doesn't he have it up?" Jason pressed.

Davis picked up the file that Blackburn gave her for the regulations and handed it to him and she spoke. "Because according to this, he is only allowed to sleep four hours on each op."

"What?" Jason asked confused as he opened the file.

"Ya, his regulations that Ash has laid out for him are insane. He can only sleep a total of four hours on each operation from take off to return. I asked some of the other support staff in the level two teams real quick. Ash always has someone on a team monitor and record whenever Clay does something against the regulations." Davis said pissed.

"This is insane." Jason said, as he read some of the regulations. "No one here would report back to Ash." Jason said with full confidence.

"Nope, he's got no one in this unit or support staff that would go against you. But the kid doesn't know that."

"Get his hammock. I'll talk to the kid." Jason headed over with the file. He wanted to go through it more after take off.

He saw that Brock was over there with the kid, who was petting Cerberus. Leave it to Cerberus to calm the kid down.

"What's his name Sir?" Clay asked.

"Cerberus. He's my best friend." Brock said warmly.

"He's a nice dog Sir."

"It's Brock, not sir." Brock said with a small smile.

"Hey kid. You gotta set up your hammock." Jason said, as he joined them.

"Oh, yes Sir." Clay said, but Jason knew he was only doing it because he was told to.

"Brock, give us a second."

"Come on Cerb." Brock headed off to his own spot to finish getting it set up.

Jason went and stood closer to Clay, who tensed at the closeness.

"Relax kid, I'm not gonna hurt ya. No one on this plane will hurt you. You don't have to worry about that. Each and every single one of these people I've picked myself to be on this team. They are loyal to me, to our family. Not a single one of them would ever report back to Ash. You don't need to worry about this." Jason said as he held the file up.

"Yes Sir." Clay said, but Jason knew he was just saying what he wanted to hear. The kid had that trained into him. Jason had a sinking feeling he had that beaten into him.

"You need sleep. We got fourteen hours before we land, you got plenty of time to sleep, kid. Get your hammock set up wherever you want and then crash." Jason said with an order tone, hoping that maybe that would be enough for Clay to actually sleep.

"Yes Sir." Clay said once again.

Jason had never hated those words more than he did right now. He got up and headed off to his section, only looking back to make sure the kid followed his orders. He was pleased to see that Clay got up and began to get his hammock set up. Once they were in the air Jason sat down and started to go through the file. He looked over and saw that Clay was in his hammock, but he couldn't tell if he was asleep or not. He was hoping he would fall asleep with laying down and the motion of the plane. The kid was clearly exhausted and needed sleep. Ray came over and sat down next to Jason to see what he was looking at.

"That the kid's file?" Ray asked.

"Ya, one of his regulations is that he can only sleep four hours on each op and only four hours a day on tour."

"What? Ash actually dictates how much sleep he can have." Ray said, not impressed at all.

"That's not all. He can't eat any sugar, sweets, carbs or red meat. Only lean meat, low fat dairy, vegetables and certain low sugar fruits. He can only drink water or white milk. Basically everything that will prevent him from gaining weight that can be turned into muscle."

"He gains muscle, he stops being a small kid that people ignore. Unbelievable. It never stops to amaze me how some parents in this world will treat their children."

"All of this is insane. How much sleep he is allowed, what he is allowed to eat, what he is allowed to do during down time. He's supposed to be in the field two hundred hours in the month."

"Doable, that's only fifty hours a week. We do that easily, especially on tour. Beau isn't gonna like it. What's the punishment if he doesn't follow the rules?"

"Doesn't say. I have a feeling only the kid knows that. It even goes into sick time. He's allowed zero vacation days, four sick days and ten injury days out of the year. If he's still injured and not cleared for active duty he has to still be on base helping and on mission helping regardless of how injured he is. The only exception is if he is in the hospital and then any additional days over ten days, he loses those additional days from next year's amount."

"That's bullshit. We can't control being injured and how long recovery takes. And being sick, he's not getting enough food and sleep to prevent him from being sick." Ray was getting even more pissed off. Clay was only a kid and he needed someone to support him and make sure he was being properly taken care of.

"He should be at home in bed right now and going to school in the morning. Not on a plane heading to Iran for a deadly op with a bunch of adults."

"We don't pick our parents. He got stuck with the wrong ones. He's had a hard life even before the navy. I mean come on, seven years old he watches his grandparents being murdered, gets captured and then forced to kill his soon to be rapist. I keep thinking about Jameelah and how close she is to that age and what she would have done. To take a life at seven, even in self-defense is too much for any child to ever have to go through."

"That's what pisses me off the most. Thinking about Em and Mickey back home, what they were like at that age. I couldn't imagine leaving them in some war zone to live. What they would be like if they had to grow up surrounded by gunfire and death. I mean the kid is terrified of saying the wrong thing. He's barely said anything and the one thing he keeps saying is yes sir."

"He's had a hard life and it's not about to get easier. But Jace, all we can do is what is in our power to do. He doesn't belong in this world. He doesn't belong being in a Tier One team, you know that. Even if his sharpshooting skills are impressive. It's too dangerous for him in this line of work. He's gotta get sent back down."

"No I know. Tier Two teams aren't safe, but they aren't what we do. He'll stand a chance down there. We'll figure it out with Blackburn once we get back. For now we need to focus on this op."

"Get some sleep. He's not going anywhere." Ray said, as he patted Jason's knee as he stood.

Jason gave a nod and let out a sigh before he got up and headed over to his hammock to get some sleep himself. They would worry about this after their mission. For now he needed sleep so he would have the energy to do this mission. Jason woke up ten hours later. He had desperately needed the sleep from the last few days of going non-stop practically. He got up and stretched out his sore muscles, feeling some of them crack in the process. He looked around and saw that everyone was still asleep, but the kid. He was standing at one of the tables they had working on something. From where he was Jason could tell that Clay didn't sleep very long, if he had to guess it was four hours. Either the kid had set an alarm to ensure he wouldn't break the rules or his body was so naturally used to waking up after four hours. Jason honestly wasn't sure which was worse. Jason went over to their snacks and picked up the pack of chocolate chip cookies they had and two water bottles. He then made his way over to the table and placed the waters and cookies down on the table before he sat down. Clay's attention snapped up once he heard someone sitting down.

Clay immediately started to pack things away, but Jason spoke.

"You don't have to put it away. What are you working on?"

Jason was hoping he could get this kid to open up slightly. He was so closed off and guarded, like he was waiting for them to start beating him at any moment.

"A.P Physics Sir."

"You don't have to call me Sir. Jason is fine. We don't call each other Sir or Ma'am here, just our names. Even Blackburn. Things in this unit are a little different. Why don't you sit down?"

"Pardon Sir?" Clay asked confused.

"You stood at the briefing, you've been standing on the plane and now you are standing again when you are doing homework. You are allowed to sit down Clay."

"Thank you Sir."

Clay pulled a chair over and sat down. He brought his leg up and bent it as he kept his eyes on his homework. Jason was getting a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Clay, can we talk for a minute?"

"Yes Sir." Clay gave him his full attention and Jason knew it was going to be a process for this kid to stop calling any of them Sir. He figured it would be a good thing for Beau, he liked that type of thing from those under him.

"I just want to talk about your past teams. Did they have any rules that you had to follow?" Jason kept his voice calm. Utilizing his fatherly voice in hopes that Clay would be more open with him.

"They all tended to follow the rules that the first team started Sir."

"And what were they?"

"Only sitting when being offered. Only speaking when addressed. No questions, no names, always walk behind them, always say Yes Sir no matter what is asked of me. Keep their weapons clean, do the inventory every month, do their paperwork, and clean up after them Sir."

The dead tone to Clay's voice was not easing the rock in the pit of Jason's stomach. He had a feeling there was a lot of bullying that had happened to him. So much so that Clay naturally was following the rules, even though he didn't have to. It was beaten into him and it would take a very long time to correct. Jason opened the cookies and took one out.

"Help yourself. Clay, you don't have to follow those rules here. We're not the same as the past teams you've been on. I run my team like a family. We're always there for each other and we always have each other's backs. You don't need permission to sit down or to talk. And I have no problems with questions. Questions are how people learn and I want all of my guys to learn. And seriously, eat a cookie." Jason said with a smirk, trying to warm this kid up.

"I'm not allowed Sir. I appreciate it though."

"Because of this?" Jason asked placing the folder down on the table. "You know what I think of this?"

"No Sir."

"I think it's a load of shit. I think your father is an asshole who just wants to control you and make your life miserable. As a father myself, it makes me sick and I would love nothing more than to beat the living hell out of him. No one on this plane is going to be telling him or anyone anything you do here. You can sleep as much as you want and you can eat what you want. Take a little bit of your freedom back, and let yourself enjoy a treat Clay."

Jason could see Clay debating it. He was fighting inside of himself to do what he is supposed to do and what he wanted to do. It was breaking Jason's heart to see. No child should be this torn up inside over eating a cookie. After a moment Clay reached over and picked up one of the cookies.

"Good boy." Jason said with a warm smile as Clay took a bite.

"My grandma used to bake cookies every other day for the school kids. The hut used to always smell like a home." Clay softly admitted.

"What were your grandparents like?"

Jason could see Clay was shocked that he had asked. No one ever had asked him anything about himself.

"Um… they were different. Ash didn't like em. They were good people, always helping people. They spent the majority of their time at the aid camp or at the school teaching. But when they were home, they were amazing. My Grandpa was a language teacher, he taught me my first five languages. My grandma was an artist. We used to spend hours getting covered in paint just creating whatever we thought of. We always played instruments and sang at night before bed. Living in Africa was hard, but I always felt safe when they were around. I was always happy." Clay said with a sad smile. It was clear to Jason that he missed them very much. Not that he could blame him. Clay had the only family he had known taken from him violently when he was nowhere near the age of being ready for it.

"It sounds like they were great parents for a child to have. I'm sorry you lost them. You said he taught you your first five languages? You know five languages?" Jason asked surprised.

"I actually know eight. The military makes me learn a new one each year. But I actually like that part. I've always been really interested in languages Sir."

"And you learnt them by seven?"

"When you are young your mind absorbs languages easier. My mind has always been really good with languages. I was speaking full sentences by eighteen months. Some people, their mind takes in languages easier." Clay said with a slight shrug.

"It's a good thing. I know you ended up back with Ash and then in the military at twelve. How many teams have you been on?"

"Twenty-two Sir."

"Twenty-two in four years?" Jason knew it would be more than one, but he wasn't expecting it to be that high.

"Yes Sir. That's why I was placed into a Tier One status. The Upper Brass ran out of teams for me in Tier Two."

"But you don't have the training that you need to be in Tier One. These missions are more dangerous, it requires a skill set. That's why soldiers have to go through Green Team to ensure they are capable of surviving and handling these missions. You are nowhere near ready for this. I can't have you operating on my team." Jason explained hoping that Clay wouldn't take any offense to it. It was just the truth. He wasn't ready for something like this. Hell he wasn't ready to be a normal Seal.

"It's ok, I understand. Honestly, I didn't expect to stay. You all are in your thirties and forties, I'm the sixteen year old kid. I don't belong I get it. I'm a liability, an obligation, a huge responsibility and a slap to morals. I wouldn't keep me around either if I was in your position. You guys all seem really nice and I appreciate it. It's been a long time since someone's been nice. And I'll still get to watch on the cameras how you guys operate and I'm sure I'll learn a lot Sir."

The fact that Clay had fully accepted that he was only going to be past over cut Jason deep. It was just the way he talked, he knew before he even got on this plane that he wouldn't be staying. Not only that he was appreciative of them not being assholes to him.

"Look, all of the teams here are good and you'll learn something from all of us. If you were twenty-one it would be different. You should be in high school worrying about passing exams and going to dances. Not being shot at. There's nowhere to go after Tier One teams, eventually the Upper Brass will take you out of active duty and place you at base until you are older. It's the best thing for you."

"It would be. They won't though. They're using the Tier One teams as an excuse. They've wanted me to go solo for a couple of years now. That's why they stopped training me. No one would expect a kid to be the assassin. Some of the Upper Brass is against it so they placed me here. Now with only seven teams left, when I burn through them the Upper Brass will have enough ammunition to convince the others that I would be better off solo. They even have a CIA Agent that has been pushing for it for the past two years Sir."

"What do you mean a CIA Agent? How do you know they want you solo?" The very last thing this kid should be is working solo. He wouldn't last six months on his own.

"I overheard them talking a couple of years ago. I could only hear the Commander's voice, but he was on the phone with the CIA Agent. He called him Andy Ellis, I think Andy or maybe Randy. I know it was Ellis. They were talking about how the CIA was ready to take me, but they needed the Navy's permission. The Commander said he and six others were working on it, they just needed an Admiral's approval. The Commander thought once I ran through the other teams the Admiral would sign off on it. But I was sent here. The Commander was pissed that the Admiral ordered me to be placed on Bravo first Sir."

Jason's mind was going a mile a minute. Not only did the Upper Brass want Clay as a solo player, but there was a CIA Agent involved by the name of Ellis. Jason was doing his best to stay calm, he had a feeling that Andy Ellis was really Mandy Ellis and she was right here on this plane. He would have to wait until after this mission to talk to her about it. He was also interested in who this Commander and Admiral were.

"Do you know who the Commander and Admiral are?"

"Commander Welsh and Admiral Anderson Sir."

"Both were in the same unit as Ash. Anderson left first and took the officer route. He wanted to make changes from the inside. He's a good man. One of the few that have the experience of being in the field and the intelligence to be in his position. Do you know why the Admiral said it had to be Bravo first?"

Clay shook his head. "No Sir. I just overheard part of the conversation. But he said I had to be on Bravo. The Commander wanted me on Charlie. He wasn't happy that I was being here. I guess I go to Charlie next."

"That would be the logical place to put you. It will probably be only for one mission and then you'll move onto the next. With only seven teams it'll be less then a month before you are out of options." Jason said with a sigh.

"I'll be ok Sir." Clay said trying to make Jason feel better, which only made him feel worse.

"So you take A.P Physics, what else are you taking?" Jason was looking to change the topic. He was going to be seeing what he could do for Clay. He didn't know what though and he didn't want to make any promises that he couldn't keep.

"A.P Chemistry, A.P Biology, A.P English Literature, A.P Calculus, A.P History, A.P Psychology and A.P Spanish Literature Sir."

"You are taking all A.P classes?" Jason had never taken an A.P class before in his life. But he knew people who had back in school. He knew the workload was similar to a College or University course. It was massive. That's why most people only take one or two a semester. To take eight was insane.

"I had to Sir."

"Why? How does it even work with you being in school and having to leave for ops or tour?"

"Ash didn't want me to go to high school, but I love learning and school is really the only time I get to be normal. But I needed his signature and to talk to the Principal to make the exceptions for me. He agreed that I could go, but I have to take all A.P classes and if I get anything less than an A on every assignment or test then I lose fifty dollars off my monthly allowance. I agreed, just so I could go. I knew it would be a lot of work, but just having the chance to be normal, it makes it worth it. And I really do love to learn. I'll learn anything. I read the dictionary for fun when I was ten. So I go to school when I can, normally twice a week and then I do my work and hand it in when I get back and write the tests Sir."

"He takes money off your allowance, what is the allowance for?"

"Until I'm twenty-one I don't have access to the money I make. He has full control over it. He gives me so much a month to pay my rent and bills Sir."

"Wait, you don't live together?"

"No Sir. Not since I was twelve. Ash said I was working now so that meant I was an adult and adults live alone."

"Did he find you a place? How much does he give you?"

"No I found it Sir. It took a while, but I was able to find a studio apartment. And he allows me to have six hundred a month Sir."

"And that is to cover everything?" Jason asked, trying to figure out what the kid's bills could possibly be.

"Yes Sir."

"What do you pay in rent?"

"Four hundred Sir."

"So that means you have two hundred left over each month to pay your utilities and food?"

"And my cell phone. Yes Sir."

"The military will cover cell phone bills."

"Ash has to sign for it and he refuses. He said it was my responsibility and I needed to learn what that means Sir."

"Because he would know." Jason said more to himself sarcastically. "Two hundred would barely cover the rest of your costs. Plus you have to worry about your grades or you lose money that you can't afford to lose. That's too much pressure on you."

"It's fine. I'm used to it Sir."

"Being used to something doesn't mean it's right Clay."

"There's a lot of things in this world that aren't right Sir." Clay said with a small shrug.

"Ya there are, but you shouldn't know about them yet. I'm sorry you do." Jason said regretfully.

"It's not your fault. I'll be fine. I have some homework I really need to finish, if that's ok Sir."

"Ya, no of course. We're gonna be landing soon so everyone will start to wake up. When we go out you can watch the cameras and when we get back if you have any questions about the mission or strategy you can ask me then and I will be happy to explain."

"Yes Sir."

Jason got up and headed off to get his things in order and his mind. He needed to talk to the team and Mandy, but it would have to wait until the mission was over. When they finally landed they all geared up and got ready to head out to meet with their translator to gather the information from the informant that he was able to find for them. Clay stood there watching the others getting ready, not really sure what he was supposed to be doing. He knew he wasn't going, but he didn't know what to do right now to help or if his help was even wanted. He could watch the screens once they were off the plane, so for now he was going to stand here out of the way and wait. The guys all headed past him on their way off the plane. Jason was last and he placed a hand on Clay's shoulder as he spoke.

"Help Davis with keeping overwatch, if you have any questions about the op or strategy I'll answer them when we get back. And make sure you eat something."

"Yes Sir." Clay said with a nod.

Jason headed out to join the others and Clay made his way over to join the others at the computers. He stayed back and watched the screens and followed along with what the translator was telling them. He spoke Persian, not that anyone here knew, so he made sure to confirm everything the translator was telling them. Everything was adding up and the team headed off to meet with the informant. It was five minutes into the meeting when Clay noticed that something was wrong. The translator wasn't being honest with his translation.

"He's lying." Clay said, speaking up for the first time.

"What?" Davis asked.

"The translator, he's lying Ma'am." Clay said again.

"You speak Persian?" Davis asked.

"Yes Ma'am."

"What's he saying?" Blackburn asked.

"They're talking about stupid Americans and how they will all burn Sir." Clay answered.

"To all Bravo elements. We have a situation here with your translator. Act normal, but be prepared for anything." Blackburn said.

"Copy HAVOC." Jason said.

"We need you to keep translating." Blackburn said. "Bravo One, the kid speaks Persain, he's going to give you the real translation."

"Copy."

Clay gave a nod and when the translator spoke he translated it properly over the mics. "The informant said, they were coming from the east, it won't be long now. The translator said, good, these American pigs need to learn to not interfere where they are not wanted."

"I got a group of thirty armed combatants coming in from the east. Bravo One, they are fifteen mikes out." Davis said.

"You need to get out of there." Blackburn ordered.

"Copy HAVOC." Jason said.

Jason raised his gun, the others doing the same. Sonny and Trent made quick work of tying up the informant and the translator and dragging them back to the vehicle. They didn't have long so they quickly got out of there and headed back to the plane. All of them were thankful for the kid and his ability to speak Persian. If they didn't have him, they very well could have been seriously injured or killed on a simple operation.

The team made their way back to the plane. They were all relieved to have made it back. They were almost taken out, set up by their own translator, the only reason they made it out was because the kid spoke the language and warned them. They all headed over to the table where a very exhausted looking Clay sat working on more homework.

"There's the little hero." Sonny said proudly.

"You saved our asses today kid." Jason said proudly.

"I'm glad I could help Sir."

"You did really good today." Ray said. "We owe you."

"Have you eaten anything?" Jason asked.

"I had my salad Sir."

Jason gave a nod and they all headed off to put their gear away. Jason made his way over to where Blackburn and Mandy were speaking.

"I'm looking into Fascide. I'll get everything I can from his history and find out what the hell happened. I've used him before and never had a problem with his allegiance." Mandy instantly said, pissed that she had missed this.

"Thankfully we had the kid here. I spoke to the kid before we landed, he made an interesting comment. He overheard Commander Welsh talking on the phone to a CIA Agent with the last name Ellis. He thought it was a man, because he only caught part of the first name, Andy Ellis. But that was you, wasn't it." Jason started, not looking to play around right now. The translator was an issue, but not the main one they were facing.

"I've spoken to Commander Welsh before, so what?" Mandy said not sure what the big deal is.

"So, he overheard how you were pushing two years ago to have the kid going solo for the CIA as an assassin. Which means you knew two years ago about a kid in the Navy and instead of helping him, you have been pushing to have him out there on his own killing targets."

"Is this true?" Blackburn asked, getting upset himself.

"There is a lot that the CIA knows about. I found out about him roughly two years ago and my bosses were all for having the kid work exclusively with us. He didn't belong in the Navy and no team wanted him. It made sense for him to work solo with a CIA handler. He's got sniper skills, plus no one would ever suspect a kid being an assassin, it was a great opportunity to take out deadly high value targets. It still is."

"He believes that he's been placed in Tier One status as a last step to him being forced into solo work. That the Upper Brass aligned with the CIA is using this as proof that he can't be on a team, because no team will have him. He's right isn't he?" Jason asked.

"Jason you said it yourself, he doesn't belong here. He's not trained for it and no one wants him in their team. Once the other teams kick him loose the Upper Brass will have what they need to make the successful argument that he would be better utilized as a solo operative."

"So you've been pushing for it to happen? He's sixteen, you should be trying to help him to be put somewhere safe. He should be working on base, for at least two years when he's eighteen. He'll die being solo." Jason said, pissed off now.

"He's never going to be placed in a position at a base Jason. He's too valuable to what he could do. He's an amazing sniper, plus he speaks eight languages and he's sixteen. He is perfect for the CIA and they are going to continue to push to have him. Once the Tier One teams toss him to the side, the CIA is the only option the Upper Brass will have. He's going to be solo, realistically within the next three months."

"You should have said something about him the second you found out. Something could have been done to get him out of his enlistment." Blackburn said pissed that Mandy would ignore this.

"His enlistment is legally solid. There isn't anything that can be done. As long as he is not in a team, he's going to be going solo. And you know just as well as I do, that no one is going to take on that level of risk and obligation for some sixteen year old kid. The sooner he accepts his fate the better off he is." Mandy said, as she turned and left.

Blackburn turned to face Jason. "I'll see what I can do, but she's not wrong. The kid not belonging to a team will only seal his fate."

"You ever heard of an Admiral Anderson? He used to be in the same unit as Ash and Welsh."

"Ya he was in the meeting when I found out about the kid. Why?"

"Clay overheard a conversation where the Admiral said he had to be placed in Bravo first. Welsh wanted him in Charlie, but the Admiral pulled rank. Said it had to be us."

"You think he had an ulterior motive." Blackburn stated.

"I do, just don't know what it is. I do know, I gotta talk to the team. We have a decision to make."

"Let's go make it then."

They both headed over to where the others were along with Davis. Jason picked up Clay's file as he headed over. He made sure to keep his voice down so Clay wouldn't overhear them talking about him.

"We need to talk about the kid."

"What about him?" Ray asked.

"Ya, I thought we were shipping him off to be Charlie's problem." Sonny said.

"That's what we need to talk about. Before we landed I spoke to the kid and learnt some things. We as a team, as a family, have a decision to make and we have to be in agreement with it. This isn't something I can pull rank on or order. It has to be all of our decision."

"You want to keep him." Trent stated.

"Why the hell would we keep him? Would we take him on?" Sonny asked shocked.

"What did you learn from the kid?" Ray asked.

"Since he was enlisted, he's been on twenty-two teams. That's why he's now in Tier One, he's gone through every other team. They gave him rules he had to follow, only told me some, but he couldn't speak unless addressed first. He couldn't sit down unless they granted him permission to, he had to walk behind them, not even next to them. He had to address everyone as Sir, every time he spoke. He had to clean their weapons every time they were used and he had to do their paperwork. Most disturbing though, he had to say yes to every order given to him regardless of what it was."

"Ok that's creepy." Brock said.

"This file, the regulations he has to follow. States he can only sleep four hours on every op and every day on tour. Only four hours. He gets only four sick days a year and ten injury days. If he's still too injured for the field, he is to be travelling and helping regardless of how injured he is. It even goes into what he's cleared to eat. No red meat, no carbs, no sugar, no sweets, nothing but vegetables, chicken, fish, low fat diary and low sugar fruit. That's all he's allowed to eat." Jason explained.

"Ash is trying to keep him small, appear less intimidating." Trent said.

"No red meat? So no burgers, no ribs, no bacon?" Sonny said disgusted.

"Nope." Jason said.

"It also means he wouldn't be allowed to eat anything deep fried, potatoes, rice, pizza even." Ray said.

"No pizza? Ash should be shot." Brock said completely serious.

"It's not even being denied food that most teenagers eat. He's being denied nutrients that his body needs. That's why he's so pale, he's not getting enough iron. Low iron would make him tire easily, bruise easier, dizziness, headaches, heart palpitations and more. It's a serious issue." Trent said.

"Look I feel for the kid, but Jace, he's just a kid." Ray said.

"I know he is. He's been living on his own, has been since he was twelve. Ash gives him six hundred a month out of his salary. Ash controls all of his money, only giving him six hundred a month to pay his rent, utilities, food and cell phone. His rent is four hundred a month. Ash won't even let him have his phone being paid for through the Navy, says he needs to learn responsibility. He's taking eight AP classes right now that was the only way Ash would agree to allowing him to be in high school. Plus he has to get all A's on everything otherwise Ash takes fifty bucks off his monthly allowance for every mark he got under an A." Jason started.

"How is he taking eight, shouldn't it be four?" Brock asked.

"Some high schools have it set up that AP classes go for both semesters. So they have four classes one day and the next four classes the following day. They just keep switching for the whole school year. It's actually harder, because you have to complete all eight courses at the same time instead of just four. The workload is insane." Trent said.

"He's going through high school, plus working full time in the Navy all while he is living alone in some studio apartment that I have to assume is not in the best area or in that great of shape for four hundred a month. Is he our problem? No. When I spoke to him, I told him he couldn't be here, that he wasn't ready. And you know what he said to me? That it was ok, that he understood. He was trying to absolve me of any guilt in the situation. He thanked me for all of us being nice to him, said it hasn't happened yet."

"Clay overheard a conversation that Commander Welsh had with who we now know to be Mandy over the phone two years ago. The CIA wants Clay to work solo as an assassin. Mandy has been working towards making that happen. Some members within the Upper Brass, one of which is Admiral Anderson who was on the same team as Ash in Tier One, is against it. Commander Welsh and the CIA are using the Tier One teams as a means of showing how Clay doesn't belong on a team and going solo is his only option. At this rate he's going to be solo within three months easily." Blackburn said.

"Whoa what? He can't be solo, he won't survive." Ray instantly said.

"And that is why we need to talk. We have to decide what we are going to do." Jason said.

"I get that what lies ahead for him is rough, but how could he stay? It's not exactly safe for him." Davis said sympathetically.

"He's not trained for this. He can't be in the field without putting himself and the rest of us at risk." Sonny said.

"I agree. But we let him go to Charlie and Charlie passes him off to the next team until there is no one left and that kid goes solo. What has happened to him before he got to us, that's on everyone before us. But what happens to him after us, that's on us. He dies in three months, that's on us too because we did nothing to stop that." Ray said.

"We make this decision as a team. We all have to agree. If we keep him then we take everything that comes with it. The responsibility of not only in the field and training, but the responsibility of raising him to be a good man and everything that comes with it. Illness, injuries, girl problems, homework that none of us will understand, and Ash. He will be our kid brother and we will have to raise him." Jason said.

"We do this, there would need to be rules set out for him." Ray said.

"And there would be. Nothing like this." Jason said as he shook the file. "But he will be limited in what ops he goes on. But he will be with HAVOC and helping on missions. We will be doing daily training exercises with him and teaching him everything we know. Until he's eighteen he will be going on less missions and he won't be a sniper. I won't have a kid pulling that trigger on a target." Jason said.

"We have to get him healthy. He's getting four hours of sleep a night, maybe not even every night. He's sleep deprived which comes with it's own health risks. He's stressed from balancing work and his insane school load. Plus he's underweight and malnourished. I don't need to examine him to know it. He's not getting enough calories in the day. An active sixteen year old male needs three thousand calories a day, he's not getting anywhere near it. He needs red meat for iron, he needs carbs for energy and calories, plus he needs sugar for his body to function properly. It wouldn't surprise me if he had low blood sugar and low blood pressure just from his diet." Trent said.

"So he needs a few burgers and pizza." Sonny said.

"Except it's not that easy. We have no idea when he's eaten red meat or carbs last. He wouldn't have had it in Africa outside of rice. He lived in Africa until he was eleven, it's possible his body has never had it. He would have to build up a tolerance for it like a toddler. Same as sugar and carbs, he eats too much in one day it will shock his system and he'll get really sick. His body has to get used to breaking the sugar down and the protein." Trent explained.

"So he's a walking health risk." Davis said.

"I would need to see his medical file to know what injuries he's had, what vaccines he's had. We'd need to keep a very close eye on his health and mental health. Which isn't a problem, I can do that. I can get him on an eating plan that will give him what he needs gradually." Trent said.

"So what do we do?" Brock asked.

"I don't know. I mean I hate thinking of him being in the unit. He's too young, but then I think about what could happen to him out there solo and I really hate that. If you guys want, then I'm on board with keeping the kid. He saved our asses, only seems fair we save his." Sonny said.

"He needs someone to look out for him. That can help him get healthy and stay that way. We would be no better than everyone before us that tossed him aside if we did the same. We can make it work." Trent said.

"If this is what you guys want, then I'm down." Davis said.

"I will support any decision you all make." Blackburn added.

Ray and Jason looked at each other. Jason could see the struggle in Ray's eyes. He had children, he wouldn't want this life for either of them.

"You sure?" Ray asked.

"I'm not sure about any of this. But I look at him and all I see is Mickey and Emma. This would have never have happened to them, but anything could have happened to me and Alana before Bravo. They could have ended up in foster care, raising themselves. I would hope that there would be at least one good person that would step up and protect them. Help them when they desperately need it. Ray, how can we go home tomorrow and look at our kids, our loved and safe kids, knowing that we sent a kid off to keep fighting a war with no back up. I'm not sure keeping him around is the best solution. But I know I can't live with myself if he dies and I had a chance to stop it. I know you can't either."

Ray let out a sigh. He knew Jason was right, He knew that the father in him could not let Clay be sent off to another team only to be forced to be solo one day. He wouldn't be able to go home and see his kids without seeing Clay's face. Good men don't walk away because something would be hard. He couldn't live with himself if he turned his back on a child in need, even a sixteen year old one.

"Ok, we have a kid." Ray said.

"That kid needs sleep." Trent instantly said.

"When we land, Trent, get his medical file so we can see what the hell is going on with him. Then work on getting a plan together for us all to follow to get him back to being healthy. Davis, let's check his gear and make sure he has everything he's supposed to have." Jason said.

"Got it." Davis said.

Trent gave a nod.

"I'll deal with Mandy and the CIA." Blackburn said.

"Let's go talk to the kid and then get his ass in a hammock." Sonny said.

They all made their way over to Clay, who was still sitting down at the table, with one knee bent up. He had his biology book out with his assignment in front of him. He looked beyond exhausted. Clay looked up when he saw the others were sitting down. Jason sat down to his right and Trent sat on his left, while the others sat around the table.

"How you feeling kid?" Jason asked.

"Fine Sir." Clay said, sounding utterly exhausted. Even his eyes were red and there was a slight tremble to his hands.

"What did I say about that Sir thing?" Jason asked with a friendly smile.

"Sorry." Clay said, looking down.

"Hey, eyes up. You're not in trouble. I was only teasing. We need to talk to you about something."

"Ok." Clay said slightly unsure.

"We need to talk about what will happen once we return to base and what will happen moving forward."

"I'm not sure I understand Sir. I'll be going to the next team." Clay said confused why it would matter to them.

"You aren't going to a new team, you are going to be staying here with Bravo."

"I don't, I don't understand." It was clear to them that Clay did not suspect that he would be staying at all.

"You are a member of this team, of this family. We're not passing you off to another team, we're keeping you Clay."

"But why? Me being in the field would put you all at risk. Why would you put your team at risk for someone like me? I'm no one, I'm not worth it."

It wasn't the words that Clay said, but how he said it that pulled on everyone's heart strings. He truly believed that his life was not worth anything, certainly not worth the risk it would put the others in. Clay's life had done a serious number on his mental health and self-esteem, something they would need to start to repair right away.

"You are a person Clay. That makes you someone. I know you've had a hard life, I'm sure that is very understated, but you are a person, you do matter. There are always risks when you go out into the field, risks we've all accepted. We're not tossing you away like a piece of trash. You're staying with us and that's final."

"There are some rules though." Ray said.

"Yes Sir." Clay said.

"Nothing like you have been told by the other teams. I want you to forget about those rules. You don't need permission to sit or to talk. You walk beside us and not behind us. And if we ask you to do something that you are not comfortable doing, then you say no. We're not going to make you do something you are not ready for." Jason said.

"And that whole sir thing needs to go." Sonny added.

"We call each other by our names and Blackburn is Blackburn. We call Jason Jace or Boss when he gives an order. There's no sir or ma'am here." Trent added.

"We know it'll take you some time to get used to the changes, but we need you to try really hard to get used to them. You are not less than us. Your life isn't worth less than ours. We're all equal regardless of rank. Got it?" Jason asked.

"Ya Boss."

Jason gave a warm smile before he continued. "For ops there will be times when you can be out there with us and same as on tour. But it will be up to me to determine which ones are safe enough to bring you out on. But you will be in HAVOC helping like you did today. You'll still be learning a lot and we all are going to teach you what we know. There will be a shit load of training exercises that we do on base and on tour. As you get more training you'll be able to be out on more ops. When you are out on an op you will be stuck to one of us, always. You do not go anywhere alone, understood?"

"Yes." Clay easily agreed.

"I know you are skilled with a rifle, but you are sixteen and I refuse to allow a kid to be a sniper. That doesn't mean you can't still practice with Ray on the range. He'll teach you everything he knows and I have a feeling you are going to be teaching him some things. But until you are eighteen he will continue to be the sniper in the unit. If you need to pull the trigger because someone is shooting at you, understandable. I just don't want you to kill someone when one of us could have done it and saved you from the pain of it." Jason continued.

"I'm good with that. No one's ever really taught me how to shoot either, it'd be nice to learn some tricks."

"You hit a four thousand yard mark without anyone teaching you?" Ray asked shocked.

"I taught myself from watching others shoot. No one has ever walked me through it."

"That's impressive kid. I'd be happy to teach you what I know and we'll see how much better you get." Ray said warmly.

"What about how many hours I'm supposed to do in the field?" Clay asked Jason, clearly worried about what it would mean for him and the punishment that would follow.

"I don't want you to worry about that. I'll handle it. Those regulations are gone, starting right now. From now on you sleep as much as you need and you eat a proper diet. Trent is our medic, he's going to go over that with you and get you on a plan so you are not malnourished anymore. We need you healthy, just like we all need each other healthy, so proper sleep and proper food. We will worry about injuries and being sick when we come across it."

"I look after the team, so if you are feeling off in any way you need to let me know and I'll check you over. I'm also gonna come up with an eating plan like Jace said for you. You should be eating around three thousand calories a day. Do you know roughly how much you are eating?" Trent asked.

"Less than half of that. I normally only eat once a day, sometimes twice when…" Clay drifted off, not really sure he wanted to admit that he was struggling.

"When you can afford it." Ray finished for him.

"You don't eat on base?" Brock asked.

"Teams wouldn't allow me to." Clay said with a shrug.

"Well you're allowed. We'll talk more tomorrow about an eating plan and what you have been feeling. Right now, you need some serious sleep." Trent said.

"I need to get this assignment done first. It's due tomorrow."

"You're going to school tomorrow?" Davis asked surprised.

"When I'm back in town I go. We'll be landing around sixty-thirty so I'll have time to get to school. I have six tests tomorrow and I need to hand in five assignments. This biology one is my last one."

"What is it?" Trent asked.

"I have to label all of the scientific names for each bone, muscle and ligament in the human body."

"Damn, ain't there a diagram you could just copy?" Sonny asked.

"No. They're all talked about in the book in different chapters. I remember half of them, but I haven't really had the time to learn Latin between the other languages I've had to learn. I just need to find the answers in the book somewhere." Clay said, sounding more exhausted as the minutes ticked by.

"That book is over twelve hundred pages long. It'll take you hours." Sonny pointed out.

"I'll be fine. It's not the first time it's taken me awhile. A.P classes aren't really meant to be learnt outside of the classroom, but I make it work." Clay saud with a small shrug.

"Well lucky for you, Jace and me are medics, so between us we should be able to remember most of the proper names for it all." Trent said.

"And I am a wicked good Googler." Davis said as she shook her phone.

"You guys don't have to help. It's my homework. I'm sure you have some ritual that you normally do after an op. I'll be fine, I'll figure it out. You all past grade ten, it's my problem."

"See that is where you are wrong little buddy, it's not your problem. It's all of our problem. See your problems are our problems, just like my problem is everyone's problem. That is what family is, what it does. You're family now and family helps each other, even if it's fancy homework." Sonny said.

"Sonny's right. It's what we do. The other teams may have had a problem with it, but we don't. Where are you stuck, between all of us you'll get done a lot faster." Jason said warmly.

"Are you sure?" Clay said still unsure about this.

"We never offer unless we mean it." Blackburn said.

"Ok." Clay said with a very faint smile.

They spent the next hour going through the very detailed diagram and were able to get all of the answers down between them and Davis with her magical Google wand. Once it was finished Clay looked ready to drop. He put his assignment into his book and packed his bag back up.

"Thank-you, I really appreciate it."

"It's no problem kid, besides Sonny just learned something." Brock said with a smile.

"That I did. Latin is stupid, but I already knew that." Sonny said with a big smile.

"Now it is time for bed for you. I don't want you up in four hours either. You got a solid ten hours before we have to land, you need to be sleeping for it." Jason said.

"I will."

"You need all the rest you can get with six tests tomorrow. Not getting proper sleep will limit the information you can retain. Once you are getting some proper sleep you'll be surprised how much easier your school work is." Trent said.

"As easy as A.P Physics and Biology can be." Ray teased.

"Rack out, we're not too far behind you." Jason said.

Clay gave a nod and he got up.

"Goodnight little buddy." Sonny said.

"Night."

Clay made his way over to his hammock and the second he closed his eyes he was out.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

When it was close to landing, Jason made his way over to Clay who was still sound asleep in his hammock. He had to get him awake so he would be able to be ready for landing. Jason couldn't help but notice how small Clay looked in his hammock. He truly didn't belong here, but sending him off to be solo wasn't an option to Jason. He was going to be keeping a very close eye on him though. Jason placed his hand on Clay's shoulder as he spoke.

"Kid, it's time to get up."

Clay took in a deep breath as his eyes fluttered open. Clay saw that Jason was above him and he just gave a nod so Jason knew that he was awake and heard him. Jason headed back down and allowed Clay the chance to wake up and get his hammock taken down. Clay rubbed his eyes, trying to get himself awake. He was still exhausted, but he wasn't as tired as he had been. His hands weren't shaking anymore so he was taking that as a positive sign. He got up and began the process of packing up his things to get ready for landing. Once he was finished he went and joined the others over at the benches.

"Damn kid, you slept for ten hours and you still look like death." Sonny said with a hint of concern in his voice.

"He's going to be exhausted for a long while. His body needs to catch up on sleep. After a month of sleeping properly he'll start to look more rested. But your hands aren't shaking anymore." Trent said, looking at Clay for the last part.

"I feel a little better." Clay said.

"You got everything you need for school?" Sonny asked.

"Ya, it's in my bag. I'll go home and get changed before I head to school."

"Get ready for landing." Blackburn said.

They all went over and sat down so they could land. Once they landed they grabbed their things and headed inside.

"We'll show you where you can put your gear." Jason said, as they headed inside.

They went over to their cage room and Jason showed Clay his cage. "You can keep all of your things here. Organize it however you want and Davis is gonna go through and make sure you have everything you need for our ops."

Clay gave a nod and he placed his things inside the cage, as the others did the same. With their gear put away they all headed out to the parking lot.

"Someone picking you up?" Trent asked.

"Oh no, I walk everywhere. I'll see you after school I guess." Clay said, as he slowly walked backwards so he could get going.

"Hold up little buddy, where exactly are you walking to?" Sonny asked.

"My place, then school."

"Where do you live?" Jason asked.

"Seatack. I really gotta go, I can't be late." Clay said, slightly anxious.

"Seatack? That's over an hour and a half walk. Why the hell aren't you taking a bus?" Sonny asked.

"I mostly run, and I don't have a bus pass. It's fine, I really gotta go."

"You aren't walking. I'll drive you." Jason said, not impressed that Clay didn't have a bus pass or that he lived in a bad area of town.

"You don't have to do that." Clay said, not used to someone wanting to help him.

"It's fine, come on." Jason said, not taking no for an answer.

"After school, we'll go over an eating plan for you." Trent said warmly.

Clay gave a nod and followed Jason over to his truck. Jason put his things in the back and Clay got into the front, with his backpack at his feet. Jason asked for his address and Clay gave it. Jason was not happy that Clay was living on his own at sixteen in a bad part of town. He knew that Clay only had four hundred for rent, but he was hoping he would have been able to find a studio apartment in a less dangerous area. They didn't get much murder, but still they weren't a hundred percent safe either. Virginia Beach had some bad areas where the crime lived, one of them being Seatack.

"How long have you lived in your apartment?"

"Since I was twelve. Didn't see the point in moving when I couldn't afford anything else. The neighbors don't bother me and it's not too bad for noise. I'm not there very much anyways." Clay said with a shrug.

"You've never had any problems?"

"There's been a few, mostly since I've gotten older. They didn't bother me when I was young."

"Who didn't bother you?"

"The drug dealers and pimps. I was too young and now I'm sixteen so they like to try and get me to work for them. It doesn't help that I live alone, and it's not like I could tell them I'm in the Navy. No one would believe me. I just speak a different language and they tend to think I don't understand them."

Jason closed his eyes for a moment to try and get his anger calmed. He was still pissed beyond belief at Ash for having Clay in this mess. It was bad enough that he was forcing him to be in the Navy, but he could have at least made sure he was in a good place to live.

"You got your phone?" Jason asked.

"Always."

"Get it, I'm gonna tell you our numbers. If you ever need anything or something is happening and you need help, you call us." Jason said with a strict tone. He was not playing around with this.

Clay pulled out his very old looking cell phone from his backpack, it was older than Jason's phone. Jason told Clay the numbers and he saved them into his phone. When they pulled up to the building that Clay was living in, Jason almost didn't let him out. The area, even though it was early in the morning, was full of drug dealers, homeless, prostitutes and drug addicts. This was no place for a kid to be living. The building looked very old, parts of the bricks were crumbling and there was graffiti all over the walls.

"Thanks for the ride, I appreciate it." Clay said as he removed his seatbelt and picked up his backpack.

"It's no problem. Let's get you changed and then we've got enough time to grab some breakfast before I drop you off at school." Jason said, removing his seatbelt so he could go in. There was no way in hell that he was letting Clay go up there without him. He needed to see just how bad it was for the kid.

"You don't have to do that. I'm sure you need to get home. I'll be fine, it's not too far from me."

"I live alone, there's no one waiting on me. I don't mind and it lets us get to know more about each other." Jason said warmly.

He opened his door and Clay knew that he wasn't going to let it go. He got out and they headed into the building. Clay led the way up the stairs to his apartment. Jason took in the building as they headed up. The walls were covered with holes, and they were filthy. On the stairs were even people passed out with needles in their arms. Jason could also hear yelling and banging as they passed different floors. When they finally reached the fourth floor Clay walked down the short hallway to his apartment. Across from his apartment, in the hallway against the wall was a half naked woman getting fucked by some guy. Jason couldn't believe it, and yet here it was right in front of him. What was even worse, it didn't even register for Clay what was happening. He had grown so used to it, that this was just normal to him.

Clay opened his door and they both walked in. Jason could instantly see just how tiny the place was. To his right was a two-seat worn down black leather sofa that looked like something you would pick up on the side of the road. A white plastic coffee table that was stained with various colors. Across from that was the kitchen that consisted of a mini bar fridge that you would see in a hotel, a hot plate and a sink with three cupboards. To the left of that was the bathroom that had no door, it was just a curtain for privacy. Inside was a toilet, a small sink and a shower that was only a showerhead sticking out from the wall and a drain in the floor. There was no shower curtain at all. And to Jason's left was a twin size mattress sitting on top of bricks. No boxspring, no sheets or pillow and an old thin blanket that had holes in spots. As for Clay's clothing, they were sitting in a small duffle bag. The walls were plastered and they were crumbling all over the place, the floor was cement and Jason could have sworn there was a blood stain in the living room area. If that wasn't bad enough, he could hear scratching.

"What's that scratching sound?" He asked.

"It's the mice, the whole building is infested with em." Clay said nonchalantly as he grabbed a change of clothes. He went over to the bathroom, closing the curtain and got changed.

Jason quickly pulled out his phone and took photos of everything to show the guys later. He had no idea what they were going to do, but they had to do something about this. As he was taking a photo, he saw a mouse run across the counter in the kitchen. Jason put his phone away and did his best to ignore the anger burning inside his chest. He couldn't believe that Ash was letting Clay live here. This place was disgusting and filled with criminals. He didn't belong here. Jason could tell the kid was smart and he was working his ass off to try and get through high school and make something of himself. He was doing as he was told, even though it was affecting his health. The least Ash could be doing was making sure he was taken care of properly.

Clay came out dressed in very old clothes. His jeans were worn and had some holes in them, his t-shirt and sweater were worn with some holes and also too big. It looked like he found them in donation bins. The same as his shoes, they were falling apart. But with only getting six hundred a month, it's no surprise that he wasn't able to get new clothes.

"You got your coat? It's supposed to get cold out." Jason said.

"Don't have one." Clay said as he grabbed his backpack.

"The military has a clothing allowance you know. The first time you use it, you get like eleven hundred dollars and then four hundred a year after that. They give you gift vouchers to stores for it."

"I didn't know that."

"We can get that set up tonight for you and I can always take you out to grab some new clothes."

"Um… ok." Clay said, and it was clear he wasn't sure what to say to that.

"Come on, let's get some breakfast." Jason said with a warm smile.

Clay didn't say anything to that, he just picked up his backpack and headed out. They made their way back to Jason's car and he took off for the closest diner near Clay's school. The whole area was rundown and not a great area for a kid living alone to be in. Jason pulled into a diner and they both got out. They sat themselves, Jason picking a spot that would let them be alone so they could talk more freely.

"You ever been here before?" Jason asked.

"No. I've never eaten out before." Clay softly admitted as he looked around.

"Really? Not even in Africa?"

"No places there for it. I understand the concept of it."

"Well, check out the menu and see what you like. Trent said we need to get you back into eating properly. Maybe some eggs and bacon to get you started would be good." Jason suggested. "Have you had eggs before?"

"Boiled eggs, it's cheap and easy to cook." Clay said with a shrug.

"Then you'll probably like scrambled eggs. Some people will put ketchup on them. Sonny will put hot sauce on em." Jason said with a smile, trying to get Clay to loosen up slightly.

"Never had ketchup."

"Really? Why not?"

"Not allowed sugar." Clay said with a shrug.

A waitress came over and they both put their orders in. Both getting just some scrambled eggs and bacon. Clay got water while Jason got coffee.

"So you haven't had anything with sugar in it?" Jason asked once the waitress left.

"Nope. Not even in Africa. We didn't live in that great of an area. There wasn't much to eat outside of rice and some chicken. We got everything from the aid workers."

"So no juice?"

"No, or fruit with a lot of sugar in it. Is that a problem?"

"You know about the four food groups, there's a reason we're supposed to eat so much of each group a day. Your body has been denied nutrients that you need to properly grow and function. It's why Trent said you're malnourished even though you are within safe weight range for your age. We'll get you on a proper eating plan and you'll be able to get everything your body needs." Jason said with a comforting smile.

Clay just gave a nod and Jason decided to change the subject once more. "You know, I have two kids, a daughter Emma who just started University in New York and my son Mickey, he's away at a hockey school. So I have two empty bedrooms if you ever want a place to sleep or do your homework where it's quiet and safe. You are more than welcome to come over anytime."

"I'm not really allowed to be anywhere but the apartment. Ash checks to make sure. I'm used to the noise. Growing up at bed, I used to calculate the distance of the rebels based on how loud the gunshots were. Screaming and banging is pretty normal for me." Clay said with a shrug.

Jason didn't even know what to say to that. What do you say to a sixteen year old kid that fell asleep counting gunshots? Only it was worse than that, because he would have been just a young child. The food was brought over and that gave Jason a moment to try and figure out a safe conversation topic.

"How are you liking school and your courses?"

"It's good. I'm almost done the semester and then next semester I get to take my favorite course."

"Oh ya? What's that?"

"A.P Music. My A.P Spanish Literature is only a one semester course so I was able to take A.P Music again." Clay said with a huge smile.

"Music eh? What do you do in A.P Music? Study music history?" He didn't expect for Clay to be interested in music.

"No nothing like that. We play instruments, write music and songs, record them. We use computer programs to engineer the songs. It's amazing."

"You play an instrument?" Jason asked, he couldn't believe Clay was interested in music, but at the same time it almost made sense. He did say that him and his grandparents would play instruments and sing.

"Guitar, bass, piano and drums. I also write my own music and songs and sing. It's my favorite course. It's worth the penalty that Ash makes me pay. Bacon tastes really good." Clay said, as he ate a piece.

"Bacon is what keeps men going. It's a very important food. What penalty does Ash make you pay?"

Jason was not liking this conversation anymore than the last one. He was really trying to find an area that they could safely talk without him feeling like he needed to beat the hell out of Ash.

"He says men that are interested in music are queer. If I take it, he makes me pay fifty dollars a month. So I lose fifty right off the start for five months, but every music class I'm there for is worth it." Clay said with the first real true smile Jason had ever seen.

"You really like music eh?"

"I love it. I love reading and learning languages, but I also really love music. It's the one thing in my life that I get to do that has nothing to do with the military. I don't need it for a mission or for training. It can just be an outlet."

"My daughter Emma, she is at NYU for a music degree. She was always singing growing up. What's your favorite part of music?"

This was something Jason understood. He had gone through this with Emma enough times. He understood how it can be someone's passion and be that escape for their life.

"I love songwriting and singing. But I also love working in the recording studio and playing around on the computer. I'm always writing or reading when I have the chance."

"Do you guys have a concert or performance that you do at the end of the year? I know Emma had a few."

"We do at the middle and end of the semester. I've only gotten to be there for the practices because we got spun up the day of. Which really sucks, but my teacher makes sure that we have a backup for my parts in the songs and any solos can be taken out. I'm really hoping this year I'll be able to be in at least one of them."

"I hope you will. It's not something that can be guaranteed as you know. But we'll be there if we are stateside. How about your other courses, are you doing ok in them? A.P isn't exactly something you should be learning on your own."

That was something that Jason was worried about. It was the father in him, he knew that. But going through A.P classes without doing this job was hard enough, but for Clay to be doing it and having the threat of losing money over his head, it was too much.

"It's hard. My teachers all know that I work on a Government contract that takes me away a lot, but they don't know I'm in the military. So they are sympathetic, but at the same time they don't have the extra time to go over what I missed during the time I'm there. I pretty much have to get any work missed, hand in the assignments from last time and keep going."

"How do you do it then if you don't have someone teaching you the work?"

"It's a lot of reading. I have the textbooks and I'll get more books from the library when I need the extra help. It can be a slow process depending on the unit and course. Sometimes I have to read the same chapter a few times and Google it before I start to understand. Physics tends to be the worst. It's not a subject that you just teach yourself, but my school only has so many A.P options. Sometimes I'll be up for two or three days straight just to get everything done and to get a good grade. It would be easier if I didn't have to stress and worry over getting an A, but that's not my life. I have to get an A or an A+, Ash considers even an A- less than an A so."

"That's not easy on you though. That's a lot of stress, especially when you factor in what we do."

"It's a lot sometimes. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to break and there isn't anything that will put me back together. But I don't have a choice, I have to keep going and hope I see my eighteenth birthday. At least then if I die, I'll be an adult."

There was so much wrong with what Clay had to say, so much. The fact that he felt that great of a pressure to do good in not only his school life, but also his military life spoke volumes. He really was hoping to reach eighteen, like that was supposed to be this huge accomplishment everyone has in life.

"Is that really what you are hoping for? To just reach your eighteenth birthday?"

Clay gave a shrug. "I hope every year I see my next birthday. When I was seven, I didn't think I would make it to eight. Then when I was twelve, I didn't think I would ever see sixteen. Now, I'm just trying to make it to seventeen and then eighteen. Every year that I see a birthday, is one more year that I get to be here. I might not always like this job and there have been so many times I've thought about just going awol and hoping no one ever finds me. Convincing myself that because I was so young, they wouldn't actively look and let it get out to the public that their government was using a child soldier."

"Why didn't you then? You're right they wouldn't risk coming after you. It wouldn't be a great life being out there on your own and having to make money, but it would be better than the one you are in."

Clay put his fork down, no longer hungry. He didn't eat much normally in one sitting to begin with. "You know what happened when I was seven, right?"

"The team does ya. We were debriefed on some of your history in how you got enlisted. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Jason meant every word of it too. That wasn't something anyone should ever have to go through, much less a small child. His mind couldn't stop thinking about how if it had been Emma or Mickey. He honestly doesn't know what he would do.

"Growing up there was a lot of darkness. My grandparents did what they could to try and shelter me from it, but there's only so much you can do. The area of the country we were in, it was all war torn. I would see mutilated bodies all the time on the way to school. Kids in the school would be missing limbs, have horrific scars, one kid had his tongue cut out, because he didn't answer the rebel fast enough. He was four."

Jason had to close his eyes for a moment at that. He knew that growing up in Africa wouldn't be the best, he got that much from Clay. But he didn't know that Clay was in that high of a hot spot. To hear how Clay could speak about it so calmly told Jason that he had grown used to the horrific sights.

"It was normal to see people dead and dying. Women and children being raped in the middle of the street while people were forced to watch at gunpoint. When I was taken at seven, I didn't even think in that room. I turned my mind off, hoping that if I didn't pay attention, if I just blacked out then I would never remember. But then he put the gun down and I just reacted. I know I should feel bad for killing him, for taking someone's life and to an extent I do. It's a weight you carry regardless of if the person was good or not. But after the shock wore off, when I was safe with that aid group. I couldn't help but think how that man couldn't hurt anyone again. That I saved someone else from being raped by him, from being killed by him. Whenever I think about leaving, I don't picture all of the horrors I've seen. I don't think about all the crap I've gone through with the teams. I think about the faces of the people I've helped save. The lives of the people who will now have a better chance at a life, because I eliminated a target. And remembering that, it still feels good. I stay because I genuinely want to help people, it makes me feel good. When the day comes when it doesn't, that's the day I leave."

It was amazing to Jason. After everything this kid had been through, he had every reason to hate the world and give up. Yet the one thing he truly wanted most in this world was to help people. He had a good heart with a smart head on his shoulders. He would make an amazing operative when he got older, and Jason was going to make sure he did live well past eighteen.

"We all feel that way. That should that day come when helping to protect and save people isn't enough, then we leave. Once you reach that point, you aren't any help to people or this country. Bravo, we're a family, we're there for each other through everything, good and bad. You can always talk to us about anything and if there is ever a time where we ask you a question and you are uncomfortable answering, all you have to do is say no and we'll move on from it. Ok?"

The very last thing Jason wanted was to make Clay feel pressured into talking about something that he wasn't ready for. Yes, there may be times when they have to push on a subject, but for now Clay needed to have that power in his hands. Clay gave a nod and Jason spoke again.

"Can you tell me about these punishments that Ash has for you?"

Clay instantly looked uncomfortable and Jason could tell this was not a topic he wanted to talk about. Jason could have told him to not worry about it, but he was curious to see if Clay would listen to him and actually say the word no to him.

"No." Clay said, trying to sound strong, but Jason could tell he was mostly afraid of what he would say back to him.

"Ok then." Jason said with a warm smile as he ate the last of his food.

He paid the bill when the waitress came over and then they headed out for Clay's school.

"If you could find an apartment that was in a better area and still afford it, would you move?"

"If I could save up the money for a security deposit and was able to find one that was four hundred and looked the other way at my age, then yes. Seems like an impossible thing though."

"You never know. The military has a lot of connections and programs to help soldiers with moving costs and finding affordable places. You've never had a team before that is willing to help you figure it all out, but you got one now. We'll look into it and see what we can do. I'm assuming though, you would need to wait until the end of the school year before you can move with your courses."

"Depends on the school. Some will do the courses all year round like here. The trick would be moving with Ash. He has to speak with the school to ensure they don't kick me out for missing days. I'm not sure he would be willing to do that. He likes me being in this area."

"We can figure all of that out." Jason pulled up to the school and turned to face Clay. "Alright, have a good day. Someone will be here to pick you up at the end and bring you back to base. Tonight we will get you set up with the clothing allowance and a bus pass. Bring your homework too, tonight we're just gonna be getting you set up, going over some things and Trent will get you on an eating plan. It's just technicalities tonight, so you can work on your homework there. This weekend, if we aren't spun up we'll do some drills and start getting you trained properly."

"Sounds good. Thanks for breakfast, I appreciate it." Clay said warmly.

"No problem. You got lunch?"

"I don't tend to eat lunch. I usually work through it." Clay said as he grabbed his backpack, that had his books and his change of clothes for the base later.

Jason pulled out a ten dollar bill and held it out for Clay as he spoke. "Get something for lunch. I don't care if you eat it while you are doing work, but you need to eat something. And you can consider that an order."

Clay was very uncertain about taking any money from someone, but he could tell that Jason was not going to let him out of this car.

"Thanks." Clay said as he awkwardly accepted the money.

"Have a good day." Jason said warmly and Clay got out of the car.

Jason didn't pull away until he saw Clay go into the school. Only then did he pull away and head for the base.

Jason headed inside the base and immediately headed off to speak with Admiral Anderson. He needed to know why the Admiral was so adamant about having Clay on Bravo over Charlie. Once at the office, he knocked on the door and waited to be granted permission to enter. Once he had it, he walked in to see Admiral Anderson sitting at his desk. When he saw who entered he gave a warm smile.

"I was wondering how long it would take before you were at my door. Have a seat and close the door please."

Jason did as he was told as he spoke.

"You put a sixteen year old kid in my unit, I'm obviously going to have questions."

"The fact that you view him as a sixteen year old kid tells me I made the right decision."

"Ya, but was it a decision you made for his sake or because you have a problem with my team." Jason challenged.

"Your team is perfect. Other people around here can say what they want about you and how you run your team. They can say that you are untraditional and a hot head, they aren't wrong. However, your team is the best that the Navy has, quite possibly the military and you got that way because of you being untraditional. You have your own team doctor and support staff that travel with you, because you have earned it. That's why I've always approved of it and most of the requests that have come in from your unit. I believe in rewarding people that do amazing work for this country and the navy and your team certainly has. I placed young Spenser on your team because I knew that your team would treat him like family and not expendable."

"You seem to care about him, but I don't know why. It's common knowledge that you and Ash both hate each other, why the need to protect his son?"

The Admiral sat back in his chair and Jason could see the slight pain that went across his eyes. "Ash and I were best friends. I was number two and he was number three, we watched over each other, we were brothers. I brought him around my family and he did the same for me. I met his parents and they were not good people. They were stuck up, rich entitled people and made a point in letting me know that this life was below Ash. I didn't ever see them after that. I had a younger sister, she was fourteen at the time she first met Ash. Our parents had been older and they both died in a car crash when she was six years old. I had been raising her with the help of a very good nanny for when I had to be on a mission or tour. Ash knew how I felt about her, how much I loved her and looked out for her, she was practically my daughter. He would often volunteer to pick her up from school when I couldn't get away. I discovered two years later that he had been sleeping with her the whole time. He was thirty years old, sleeping with my fourteen year old baby sister. When I found out, I almost killed him and it ruined the team. I took the officer route and he was switched to another unit and given second command. I was so mad at my sister for what she had done, she knew better, that I didn't speak to her for a year. I never got the chance to speak to her again, because she OD from heroin. I didn't even know she was addicted to any drug. I assume it was during that year that she disappeared and we didn't speak." The Admiral paused and pulled out a photo from his desk drawer, sliding it over to Jason as he continued. "Twelve years later, Clay Spenser walks into my life."

Jason took the photo and could instantly see the resemblance. Clay had his mother's eyes and her messy dirty blonde hair.

"He's your nephew, but he doesn't know it."

"No. I've wanted to tell him, I've wanted to pick him up and never let him go. He's been through so much. My fear is if word got out that he was not only Ash Spenser's son, but the nephew of an Admiral, what it will do to him. The problems it will bring him."

"If I could speak freely here Sir."

"I would be shocked if you didn't."

"You're being a coward. I just came from his apartment, it's infested with mice, people having sex in the hallway, drugs, needles, prostitutes, the crime rate is off the charts and he lives all alone, sleeping on some thin dirty mattress on the floor. Ash gives him only six hundred a month to live off of, his rent is four hundred and he's expected to pay for his own cell phone. He barely has enough to eat and what he's allowed to eat is controlled by Ash. He's going to school full time in all eight A.P classes that he has to receive an A or higher on every test and assignment otherwise Ash removes fifty dollars a month from him. And that's on top of what we don't even know about yet. He's your nephew and he's suffering. How the hell can you sit there and not be pissed off and storming in to help him?"

"What do you mean he doesn't live with Ash?" Anderson said with an edge to his voice.

"He hasn't since he was twelve. He's been living on his own in the worst part of the city."

"I wasn't aware of any of that. I know he has strict regulations that he needs to abide by, but the rest I was not aware of. And I am pissed. I want to be there for him, but it's not that simple with my ranking."

"I'm not saying you should be screaming it from the rooftop, but you need to at least tell him. He's got to have questions about his mom. He was raised in Africa with Ash's parents, he's never gotten to know anyone on his mother's side."

"Ash's parents live in Washington, they have for close to twelve years. And my parents are dead, so whoever raised Cay in Africa was no one related to either side of his family."

"What? He's under the impression that they were his grandparents."

"They might have told him that to make it easier on him. But they most likely are people Ash met once and sent the kid to live with."

"Thankfully they were good people then. Clay said they were always amazing with him. Finding out about you will make him ask questions about them, and eventually he will discover they didn't share any blood. That might be rough for him or he might not care. Either way, Clay deserves to know that he has an uncle out there. He needs all the help he can get."

"And I will tell him, when the time is right. For now, do what you can for him and keep him alive. I know he is a burden and a huge responsibility, but your team is the best place for him and as long as he is on your team then the CIA can't get to him."

"A kid is never a burden. We'll keep him alive and teach him everything we know."

Jason wasn't happy that the Admiral didn't seem to want to tell Clay who he was. He could understand that being connected to an Admiral and Ash wasn't going to be good for Clay, but he had a right to know that he had an uncle.

"I would appreciate it, if you didn't inform Clay that I was his uncle. I will when the time is right."

Jason knew that was an order, even though it wasn't spoken like one. He just gave a nod before he stood. "My team is waiting for me, we have some work we need to organize before Clay is off from school."

"Of course. Thank-you for your understanding Master Chief."

Jason gave a nod and he headed out of the office and made his way back to where his team would be in the cage room. He had to go over with them everything he just learnt and see what Trent was able to find in the kid's medical file. He was hoping it wouldn't be too bad, but he had a feeling based on how Clay was acting with them, that it would be. He walked in and all eyes turned to him. Trent was sitting in his cage with Clay's file, but based on the other's looks he hadn't shared anything yet with them.

"Kid get to school ok?" Sonny asked.

"Yup, even got breakfast into him and gave him some lunch money. He said he doesn't tend to eat lunch and normally for breakfast it's an apple or a piece of fruit."

"What did you get him to eat?" Trent asked, still looking down at the file.

"Some scrambled eggs and a couple pieces of bacon. He liked the bacon."

"Who in their right mind hates bacon?" Sonny asked, appalled at the idea.

"How much did he eat?" Trent asked, now joining them at the large table they had in the middle of the room.

"Half of the plate from the diner. I didn't want to push."

"No pushing him to eat more would be counterproductive. We just need to get him eating more frequently and then the bigger portions will come." Trent answered.

"What do we know?" Ray asked.

Jason took out his phone and pulled up the pictures of Clay's apartment as he spoke. "His place is a shithole. There's gangs, prostitutes, junkies and pimps all over the place. Clay said they used to leave him alone when he was younger, but now they have been giving him problems with being older. The apartment building, no elevator, needles all over the place, the walls were falling apart. There was yelling everywhere and right across from his apartment, there was a half naked girl having sex right there in the hallway."

"Hello." Sonny said.

"Clay didn't even seem to register it. It was so normal to him, it was like she was the paint on the walls. I took pictures real quick while he was getting changed. He's got a mattress on the floor. There's no set bathroom, just a spot in the one corner with a toilet, sink and a showerhead sticking out of the wall. He's got curtains up to offer privacy. There's just a mini fridge, a hot plate and a microwave. He's got mice, the building is infected, you could hear them scratching in the walls. I saw one run across his kitchen counter while I was there."

Jason handed the phone over to Ray and they all checked out the photos.

"This place is horrible. He doesn't even have sheets on his bed. He's got nothing." Ray said pissed that someone was living in a place like this.

"He pays four hundred a month for it, plus utilities. We gotta figure out how to get him out of there."

"Can he move?" Brock asked.

"Clay said he could, but it's not that simple. He would need a place that is still four hundred a month and they have to be willing to overlook his age. Plus with his school, he needs to be able to still be at his school at least for the rest of this year. If he moves to another area and goes to a new school, Ash has to speak with the principal to account for the missed days. Something Clay doubts he would do again. I offered him crashing at my place, but he said Ash checks in to make sure he's still living there. Apparently he likes Clay there."

"Of course he does, it's just another way for him to control the kid. He's making over four grand a month and he's only getting six hundred of it. I doubt that Ash is saving it for him and not spending it." Sonny said.

"There's no way he's saving it." Brock agreed.

"But he could move, if we could find a new place for him that would still work for his school." Ray said.

"If we found something that would make it possible for him to continue at his school. Tonight, I'm gonna get him set up for the bus pass, so if he had to take a bus to school he could. Military will help with moving costs and security deposit." Jason said.

"So we just need to find him a place that he could rent for four hundred." Sonny said.

"I'll ask Jessie tonight, see if any of her real estate friends have something." Trent said.

"Getting him out of that place would be a huge help." Brock said.

"Did he tell you anything about himself?" Ray asked.

"He grew up in a small village outside of Liberia. He said he used to fall asleep calculating the distance of the rebels based on the noise of the gunfire. He said that he grew up seeing mutilated bodies, a four year old boy in his class had his tongue cut out. Women and children were killed and raped in the middle of the street. He's been around violence his whole life." Jason said sadly.

"He's seen things no child should ever see." Brock said with a small shake of his head.

"It wasn't all bad. He loves going to school and learning. He is taking A.P music next semester and the smile he had on his face when he was talking about it was unbelievable. Music is a serious passion of his. They normally have two concerts in the semester, but he hasn't been able to be in one yet because of getting spun up. He's hoping this year he'll be able to be there for at least one of them. He plays the guitar, bass, piano and the drums. He also sings."

"So he's got a music passion, that's good. That's something he can use to help him get through some of the harder times." Ray said.

"Any news on the Admiral and why Clay was placed with us over the other teams?" Sonny asked.

"This can't leave this room, not even back to the kid." Jason started and waited to make sure everyone understood before he continued. "He's Clay's uncle."

Sonny whistled as Ray spoke. "What?"

"He had a younger sister that he was raising while he was operating. His parents died in a car crash and he stepped up to take care of his kid sister. When she was fourteen he introduced Ash to her just in passing and Ash offered to help pick her up from places. He had no idea that he was sleeping with her."

"Piece of shit was sleeping with a fourteen year old." Sonny said pissed.

"The Admiral didn't know that Clay existed, not until he was twelve and in the military. His sister gave birth at sixteen and died not long after that from a heroin overdose. Ash took the kid and brought him to Africa then left. Here's the interesting part, the Admiral's parents are dead and he just told me that Ash's parents live out in Washington. Whoever Clay was raised by until he was seven, weren't related to him."

"So who were they?" Trent asked.

"Thankfully good people that taught him and did what they could for him." Brock said.

"He's never told the kid though? He's had four years to do it." Ray said, not happy that Clay had been suffering on his own when he could have gotten help.

"He's afraid of what it would do to Clay professionally with having Ash as his father and an Admiral as an uncle. I think it's an excuse. He probably feels guilty for his sister's death and not being there for Clay. Either way, we can't say anything or rely on him to be much help. It's on us to protect this kid and get him in a better place. Trent, what do we got for medical history?" Jason asked.

He didn't want to waste time talking about things they couldn't change. He wanted to focus on what they could do for the kid.

"Injuries consist of broken ribs, bruises, cuts, busted knuckles, a broken arm, pulled muscles, sprained ankle a few times. Little injuries like that. However, he's had a skull fracture a year ago and he's had three concussions, one of which was 4 days ago." Trent said, not impressed.

"He's still got a concussion, he shouldn't have even been on that plane." Jason said pissed that Clay had been on the plane. He couldn't be traveling with a concussion, the change in air pressure would make it worse.

"He shouldn't be anywhere but his bed. And unfortunately that's not the worst of it." Trent said, and they could hear the anger now building in his voice.

"What is?" Ray asked.

"When he was twelve, roughly four months since he started, he tested positive for an STD."

"Ok, so he had unprotected sex with some female." Sonny said, not sure what the big deal was.

"He also had internal tearing that needed a total of thirty stitches, and he had to be monitored overnight for the slight internal bleeding that stopped on its own."

"What… what does that mean?" Sonny asked, not liking the sound of it.

"He was raped." Ray answered with anger and sadness in his voice.

"That same day a member of the team he was on came in with the exact same STD. A comparison confirmed it was the same strand." Trent finished.

Jason slammed his hand down on the table. He couldn't believe this. He was just a twelve year old kid and someone in the military, on the same fucking team, had raped him.

"Who was it?" Jason demanded.

"It doesn't say. But nothing was done about it. The doctor swept it under the rug. He swept everything under the rug. Clay's had close to thirty STDs in the past four years. Either someone in his unit was doing it to him or they were using him to distract targets or something. All have been cured by a pill, so that's something at least." Trent answered.

"Oh how nice. They have either raped him or allowed him to be raped, but at least he didn't get Aids from it. So considerate." Sonny said pissed as he started to pace now.

"What the hell do we do?" Brock demanded.

"We gain his trust and hope he tells us what has been happening, who it was. We can't change what happened before us, but we sure as shit can change what happens to him now. We can't push him or he will clam up and we won't get anything out of him. We have to earn his trust first." Jason said.

"I don't like it, but I agree. To that kid we could be just like everyone else that's hurt him. We have to build that trust so he feels safe and comfortable to tell us anything, even the hard things." Ray agreed.

"Fine, but if I see anyone looking at him funny, I'm knocking em out." Sonny said, still pissed off.

"He's done school at three thirty, one of us needs to pick him up. He needs to get a bus pass sorted out and the clothing allowance. His clothes are literally falling apart. Those two things and the eating plan need to be done tonight. Tomorrow can be all about training and figuring out where his skill level is and what we need to improve on." Jason said.

"What are we gonna do until then?" Ray asked.

"We're gonna run drills, but do it using Davis and have her fill in for Clay. We gotta get used to operating with a handicap for when he is out there."

"He can't be in the field until his concussion is healed." Trent said.

"Agreed, but we gotta be ready for when he is." Jason said.

They all spent the rest of the day running drills and trying to work out the best way to have Clay with them in the field to keep him safe. It was still in need of a lot of tweaking, but they were able to at least start figuring it out. It would be possible to keep Clay safer out in the field without hindering anyone. That made everyone, especially Jason happy. When it was time for Clay to be out of school Sonny went to go and collect him. Jason would have done it, but Sonny wanted to have some time with Clay one on one so they could start forming a bond. What Jason wasn't expecting was the downcasted look upon Clay's face and the concerned one on Sonny's.

"What happened?" Jason whispered as Clay went over to the table they had in their cage room.

"No idea. He came out looking like that and hasn't said much of anything. Something must have happened at school." Sonny said.

They all headed over to the table as Jason spoke. "Take a seat kid, we need to chat real quick."

Clay went and sat down on one of the stools and they all could tell he thought he did something wrong.

"You're not in trouble. We just want to know what happened at school, because something happened to make you upset." Jason said gently.

"It's nothing Sir." Clay said with his eyes down.

Jason walked over and sat down on a stool next to Clay. He reached over and placed his hand on the bottom of Clay's chin and lifted it up as he spoke. "Eyes up, you're not less than us. You're not less than anyone. Keep those blue eyes of yours up. And stop with the Sir."

Jason could see the pain, but absolute fear in Clay's eyes. Something was terrifying the hell out of him. Jason felt this overwhelming need to fix it. To make it all better and get that look out of Clay's eyes. He found himself wanting to see Clay's eyes shine with joy, to hear his laugh and just see him being a kid for a change.

"What happened today in school? You were ok when I dropped you off, so something must have happened while you were at school. What was it?" Jason asked calmly.

"It's my problem." Clay started, but Jason stopped him.

"No it's not. Your problems are our problems. Just like ours are yours. We're a family and if one of us has a problem, we all do what we can to work through it. That's what family does. Yes, your problems will be different than ours, but that doesn't change the fact that we'll work through em together. What happened at school?"

Clay took in a shaky breath before he finally spoke, but when he did his voice was full of fear that cut everyone to their core. "I failed a physics test. My teacher wants to meet with Ash, that's never happened before. I have no idea what Ash is going to do."

It was clear to everyone that Clay was terrified of what Ash was going to do to _him. _Clay didn't say it, but he didn't have to. They all desperately wanted to know more about these punishments that Ash had been giving to Clay, but now was not the time to talk about it.

"Have you failed a test before?" Jason asked.

"No. I didn't just get an A or a B, I got an F. Twenty percent and now I could get an overall grade of seventy even if I get perfect on everything else in the course. I don't know what happened. I studied on the plane, but when I went to write it, it was like I forgot everything. My head hurt and I couldn't really read the words they kept blurring."

"When was the test?" Trent asked.

"Um four days ago."

"Clay, you have a concussion. You got it from your last mission. Your head was hurting and your vision was blurry because of the concussion. It's no wonder you failed." Trent said.

"But I've had a concussion and written tests before. I've never had it like that." Clay said, confused.

"The more times you get a concussion the worse it gets, especially when you are tired and younger. Clay, you've had three concussions in four years now, that's not good. You still have one." Trent explained.

"Have you had any headaches or dizziness?" Ray asked.

"I always get headaches, I just got used to them." Clay said with a small shrug.

"It's a side effect of concussions, not getting proper sleep and food. It's something we are going to be fixing." Trent promised.

"When does your teacher want to meet Ash?" Jason asked.

"Tomorrow after school. He also has to sign my test."

"Here's what we're going to do. Tomorrow I will be meeting with your physics teacher and speaking with him. I'll see if there is a way that you can make up the test. I'll explain that you have a concussion and had one during the test, maybe you could do a makeup test or assignment." Jason said.

"You don't have to do that." Clay instantly said and it was clear he wasn't used to someone helping him.

"I know I don't, I want to. We might be able to get this resolved without having to let Ash know. There are going to be times where I'm going to tell you to act your age, to be the kid and let someone else be the adult. I know you have been the adult most of your life, but you also need to know how to be a kid. How to make mistakes, how to let someone help you, how to count on someone. You need to learn how to have fun and just hang out with friends and not be so stressed out all the time." Jason said. He knew Clay was supposed to be sixteen and an adult working in the military, but he was also a sixteen year old kid that had been neglected and on his own practically most of his life. He had a lot of growing up and learning to do still, just like every sixteen year old kid.

"What if he still wants to see Ash?" Clay asked and Jason was hating the fear in his voice.

"Then I'll handle it." Jason said.

"We'll handle it." Sonny added.

"You can trust one thing with us Clay, we'll always have your back and as long as it's in our power we will always protect you." Ray stated.

"And you can always come to one of us if you need help or if you aren't safe." Brock said.

"Safety is the most important. We want you safe in and out of the field. We all keep an eye on each other when we're back Stateside. The brotherhood doesn't end when we get off that plane." Trent said.

"You can come to any of us, to any of our places, you can call us anytime you need to. We'll always answer and we will always be there to help you." Jason said.

Clay gave a nod and it was clear to them all that this would be something he would need to get used to. He was so used to being on his own that having people there for him was this foreign concept.

Jason spoke as he patted Clay's knee. "Alright, I don't want you to worry about tomorrow. Let's put it behind you for now and tomorrow after school I'll handle it. Tonight, we gotta get you set up with a bus pass and the clothing allowance. Trent is also going to go over with you an eating plan to help you gain weight and get your body healthy."

Clay took in a slow deep breath before he slowly let it out. "Ok." He was going to not worry too much about it and just hope that Jason would be able to fix it. Clay had to admit he was glad that the team seemed to be willing to help. He was really hoping that he could stay on Bravo and that no one would pull him off of it. For now Clay was going to try and let it go and just enjoy his time here with the team before he would need to get home and start working on more homework. It would be another long night, but it would all be worth it when he finally got to graduate high school.

_.416 Barrett Sniper rifle_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Warning: Sexual Content**_

Chapter 3

It was just after seven that night when Clay walked into his apartment. He was exhausted even though he had been able to sleep more on the plane. According to Trent his body was trying to catch up all the lack of sleep he had gone through over the last four years. He also had a concussion, which meant he was supposed to be in bed resting, but Clay's regulations didn't allow for that. He was hoping he could get some sleep tonight, but he had a test tomorrow and more assignments he needed to work on. It was going to be a busy and long night.

Clay walked into his apartment and was surprised to see Dave there. Dave was his boyfriend and had been on the very first team that Clay was placed on. He was forty-two and had currently been away on deployment for the past three months. Clay had forgotten that he was getting back today. Clay gave him a warm smile as he spoke.

"Hey, I didn't even realise you were back. How was it?"

"It was fine. I heard you were placed on Bravo, that's a big deal." Dave said and he sat back on the couch.

Clay answered as he locked the door and put his things down. "Ya, well the Upper Brass wants me solo, this is their step for it. I've only done one operation with them and I stayed on the plane. I don't really know what is going to happen with it." Clay was trying to downplay it. Dave had wanted to be within the Tier One Teams, but he didn't make it past Green Team. Clay didn't want to fight right now.

"You going solo might be a good thing. It will let you do some impressive work for the country. It's too bad you got stuck on Bravo. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near Jason Hayes. He's an asshole and thinks he's all that. I can't stand that fucking man."

"I mostly just stay out of the way and keep quiet." Clay lied. He didn't want to get into it right now. He knew that Dave would hate Jason and it would be a problem later on. Clay was hoping to avoid that for as long as possible.

"That's what you are supposed to do. I've been gone for three months, why the hell are you not naked?" Dave asked with a smirk.

Clay began to remove his clothes. He knew that Dave prefered to have him naked when they were around each other. As tired as Clay was, he did enjoy their time together. Dave had a way of making him feel good. When they were together there was nothing, but pleasure between them. Well, when they were having sex at least, outside of that Clay tended to do as he was told and kept quiet about anything in his life. Dave didn't have any interest in drama or anything like that, so Clay kept quiet and just focused on Dave's life and what he was going through. The time that Clay did get to spend with Dave was always worth it. It gave Clay some pleasure and for a little while some comfort when Dave's body would cover his. It was everything to him, because it was as close to a hug as he has had since he was seven.

Once naked Clay went over to Dave and got down on his knees in between Dave's legs. Dave started to undo his pants as he spoke. "I haven't jerked off in three months. I've been saving it up for you baby. I know how much you love drinking from me."

"You spoil me." Clay said with a smirk.

Dave pulled his hard dick out and Clay instantly went over and licked all up his shaft to his tip. Clay made sure to moan as he got Dave's precum in his mouth, Dave liked that. Clay took Dave's hard on into his mouth and took him all the way down to the base. Dave moaned and placed his hand in Clay's hair and gripped it tight. Dave liked it rough, had since the very first time they were together. Clay was ok with it, but there had been times when Clay wished that Dave would just kiss him and take things slow. They had yet to kiss, Dave saying he didn't like it. At one point Clay couldn't help but find it funny that he has had sex plenty of times, but he had yet to be kissed.

Dave did what he always did, he took control of Clay's head and he held him down fully on his dick as he thrusted his hips up. Clay relaxed his throat knowing that if he didn't he would choke and Dave never stopped when that happened.

"Fuck, I missed your mouth baby." Dave groaned as he picked up his pace.

Clay knew he wouldn't last long, he never did when he was away for deployment. Clay placed his hands on Dave's thighs and he could feel them getting tighter. He could feel Dave's dick swelling even more in his mouth and after a few more thrusts and Dave was holding Clay's head down balls deep as he came hard down Clay's throat with a loud groan. Clay did his best to swallow the load that Dave gave him. It was not easy, there was a lot, but Clay had managed to do it, but Dave didn't let him up. Instead he started to thrust his hips again as he spoke.

"Get me hard again baby so I can fuck you good and proper."

Clay moaned around Dave's dick. He did enjoy it when Dave fucked him. He always made him feel good, even if it was rough. It allowed him to have an escape for a little while and feel good and special. Dave could have been with anyone, but he chose Clay to be with. Once Dave was hard, he pulled Clay's head off of him and Clay licked his lips to get the small amount of cum that had escaped his mouth.

"Fuck, you are so sexy on your knees baby." Dave moaned.

Dave got up and he grabbed Clay by his neck in a gentle grip and pulled him up and onto the couch on his back. He then grabbed Clay's thighs and pushed them up, spreading them open so Clay was folded in on himself with his hard dick right in his face. Dave then got onto the couch and without even stretching Clay shoved himself balls deep inside of him. Clay gave a loud groan at the pain that shot through him. He knew it would pass, but it always hurt those first couple of minutes. Dave gave a groan as he pulled out almost all the way and shoved right back in.

"Fuck, you are always so tight. No matter how much I fuck your ass, you stay just as tight as the first time I took your virginity."

"You're so big." Clay groaned as he fought through the pain, hoping the pleasure will start soon.

"You love it, my big cock in your tight ass."

"Yes."

Dave angled his hips and hit Clay's sweet spot, causing Clay to let out a moan. This was the pleasure he was waiting for. Dave continued to pound into Clay, but he made sure to hit his sweet spot each time. Clay could feel his need building, but he knew better than to touch himself without permission first.

"Please, I need to cum." Clay begged.

"Cum then baby. I want to watch you cum all over your face."

Clay moved his hand over to his hard on and started to jerk himself off as Dave went even faster. It didn't take him long before Clay was cumming hard and long. He hadn't done anything since him and Dave had been together so he had just as much as Dave did stored up. Clay closed his eyes as his cum covered his face.

"Fuck, you are so sexy." Dave groaned.

Clay opened his eyes and Dave moved his one hand and ran his finger along Clay's cum covered cheek.

"Open." Dave ordered.

Clay opened his mouth and Dave shoved his cum covered finger inside it. Clay knew what Dave wanted, he licked and sucked the cum off Dave's finger and he moaned. Once the cum was gone Dave did it again until all of Clay's cum was gone. Dave then pulled out and he flipped Clay around so he was over the arm of the couch. Clay put his hands down on the floor as his hips were on the arm of the couch. Dave then slammed back into him and slapped his ass as hard as he could.

"Fuck, you drive me crazy. I couldn't stop thinking about you. I'd wake up so fucking hard because I was dreaming about this tight ass all night."

"Fuck, yes don't stop." Clay moaned.

Clay didn't care that the new position was causing his head to hurt from his concussion. The pleasure that was shooting through his body was more than enough to block that pain out. It was these moments of pleasure that got Clay through his life. The times when he could just forget about everything else going on and just allow his body to feel something other than pain. It allowed his mind to have that break from the stress in his life and just let go. Dave continued his roughness with Clay. He continued to slap Clay's ass as hard as he could, bruising both sides by the end of it. After a good thirty minutes Dave was pounding into Clay's ass one last time before cumming deep. Clay instantly felt the heat from Dave's cum and he couldn't help but moan at the sensation.

Dave's body collapsed down on top of Clay's and this was the moment that Clay cherished the most. The few minutes where Dave was almost hugging him. Where he could feel the weight of Dave's body and if he closed his eyes he could make himself believe that they were in love, that Dave loved him and would protect him and keep him safe. Dave told him he loved him, but they never did what other couples do. They never went out to dinner, they never went on dates. Clay had never been to his place. He knew that their relationship would look weird to other people and with their job they had to be careful not to get caught. Clay understood all of that, but it did put them in a weird position.

Clay wished that they could go out. That Dave kissed him and held him. Clay couldn't even remember what feeling safe and cared for felt like. But in these moments, Clay could pretend like they were a normal couple and he was being held after making love. It didn't give him that feeling of safety, but it did let him imagine that he did feel safe and that was enough. All too soon Dave was moving and pulling out of Clay. Clay forced his body up and he collapsed down onto the couch, doing his best to ignore the stinging in his ass.

"That was amazing. I think we need a little weekend away together."

"Really?" Clay asked, surprised.

"Ya, why not? I can get us a nice hotel room, we can spend the weekend in bed and order room service. Unless you don't want to."

"No, I want to. I was just surprised that you suggested it. I know we've been really careful and not going out because of being seen."

Spending the whole weekend together with Dave sounded amazing to Clay. He would have loved to be able to just relax and have some fun for a weekend. He knew he could be in trouble with Ash over it if he came by and he wasn't here. Still though, he could die at any moment and it was time he got to live his life a bit before he lost his.

"I think if we are careful and if I get the right hotel we'll be fine. We can do it in a couple of weeks. Can you submit personal time?"

"I can if we have a set date ya." That would cost him as well, but it would be worth it.

"Perfect. I'll check around for a date and let you know."

"Great." Clay said warmly.

"I gotta go. I'll text you with details."

Clay gave a nod and Dave finished getting his pants back on and he headed out. Clay let out a soft sigh before he got up, he had to hold onto the arm of the chair as a wave of dizziness hit him. Once it passed he headed off for a quick shower, he hated that he had no hot water or heat in the place. Taking a cold shower was never fun and Clay hated it. If there was one thing he hated, it was being cold. His apartment seemed to always be cold when it was cold outside, which was six months out of the year anymore. The rest of the time it was horribly hot to the point where you couldn't sleep. He didn't have windows so it wasn't like he could get a breeze and he couldn't have a fan going, because it used up too much electricity. This place really wasn't that great, but it was all he could afford.

After getting cleaned up in the shower, Clay got dressed in his usual sleep clothes, sweatpants and a long sleeved shirt. He was happy about the bus pass that he was able to get today and his clothing allowance was going to be in tomorrow. Jason had offered to take him once again and part of Clay was tempted to accept the help. He wasn't sure what it was about Jason, but he made Clay believe that things could be better. He felt different around Jason, he didn't feel scared or worried. When Jason told him he would handle his physics teacher, he felt relieved. Like it was one less stress that he had to worry about. He had no idea if Jason would be able to handle things and for Ash to not know about it, but Clay was really hoping it would work out this time.

For now he had to get back to reality and get to work. He had a test to study for and more homework to get done. His head was hurting once again and he was hungry, but a quick trip to his kitchen told him he didn't have any food. He had just received his allowance before he went away five days ago. He would need to pick up a few things tomorrow after work to get him through the next few days. He didn't have much to play around with though so he would need to be very careful with what he got. With a sigh Clay grabbed his backpack and started to get to work. There was no point in complaining about anything, nothing was going to change. All he could do was focus on what needed to be done for tomorrow and get through it one day at a time.

It was just before three thirty when Jason found himself in Clay's school. He was to be meeting with Clay's physics teacher, Mr. Moore, instead of Ash. Jason was really hoping that this would go over well. He had no idea if he would be able to talk to Mr. Moore and get him to see where Clay was coming from. Alana had done the teacher thing mostly so Jason was entering a new territory, but it was one he was prepared to go into. Clay needed their help, but he also needed their protection from Ash, that much was made very clear from the fear radiating off of Clay last night. Jason wanted nothing more than to see Ash somewhere. He would love to put Ash in his place where he belonged.

Jason noticed that the school was in rough shape, but he didn't expect anything less for the area they were in. After going to the front office and explaining why he was here, Jason was told what classroom Mr. Moore would be in. He walked through the halls and noticed that kids were already leaving their classrooms with the final bell going off. When he arrived at the classroom he saw Clay standing outside of it looking down. Jason could tell that Clay was terrified about what was going to happen today, not that Jason could blame him. The punishments that he got from Ash must have been worse than they were all expecting.

"Hey kid." Jason said, once he was close enough.

Clay looked up and Jason could see that Clay hadn't slept last night. His hands were shaking again and he looked like he was in pain.

"Are you alright?" Jason asked, concerned.

"Headache."

"You didn't sleep last night." Jason stated. He knew with Clay's concussion he needed proper rest, but it didn't seem like he was getting it.

"I had too much homework and a test to study for today. The closer it gets to midterm the more work I get because I have to have all outstanding work in before midterm marks go out. It's just another three weeks and then I have exams to do."

"You need to sit." Jason said, as he guided Clay over to a chair that was in the hallway. Clay sat down and did his best to not show that his ass was sore. Jason spoke once again. "Have you eaten today?"

Clay just shook his head and Jason had a feeling that Clay didn't have food at home. Something he would be fixing. He pulled out a granola bar he had thought to bring with him and held it out for Clay. "Eat this and when we get to base we'll get you some dinner. I'll be out as soon as I can."

Clay took the granola bar with a small smile of thanks as Jason headed into the classroom. Jason walked in and saw Mr. Moore sitting at his desk with papers all over it that he seemed to be marking.

"Mr. Moore." Jason said.

Mr. Moore looked up and Jason could see the confusion on his face. Jason didn't know if Clay's teachers had ever seen Ash before or not, but he figured it didn't help the situation that he was wearing his uniform.

"You are not Clay's father." Mr. Moore said, as he stood.

"No, I'm Jason Hayes. I work with Clay." Jason said as he held his hand out. He was hoping this man would go with him on this. Mr. Moore took the hand that was offered with a small warm smile before he spoke.

"I was expecting to be meeting with Ash, not a colleague of Clay's."

"I understand that, but I'm sure you have noticed in the time you've been teaching Clay that his home life is not traditional."

"That is to say the least. I was made aware of him working on a Government contract, I was not aware he was in the military. Though, it would explain the absence, the exhaustion and injuries he has sustained over the course of my teaching him. I have to admit, I am disgusted that he would be in the military."

"It's not something I am happy about either, believe me I have two kids and this isn't something I would ever wish for them."

"I wanted to speak with Ash regarding Clay. This is much more than just a failed test. I have had concerns about young Spenser for two years and all of which have gone ignored. I was hoping to speak to Ash to see what changes we can come up with to help ease the stress in his life."

"And I want the same thing. Ash is not a good father and him being here would only make things worse for Clay. I've only known Clay for less than a handful of days and I am trying to do what I can to help him and improve his life. I would really appreciate it if moving forward you deal with me over Ash. It would be better for Clay and you'll get better results with me then him."

"And what branch of the military are you in?"

"I'm a Seal."

Mr. Moore was quiet for a moment before he spoke. "A team guy. My father was a Ranger, he lived and breathed the team life. He always told me that you live for the team, you protect the team and you die with the team. On and off mission."

"It's true. My team, we're a family. We are there for each other and we will be there for Clay. We've already started to help get him healthy and getting proper sleep. It's not something that can be fixed in one day, but we are taking the steps to ensure he has a better life."

"I'll be honest with you Mr. Hayes, he's drowning and he's drowning fast. It's not his fault in any way. I would never blame him. I am actually very impressed by him and his work ethic. The problem is these kids, they do nothing but go to school and homework. They eat three proper meals a day, they sleep ten hours a night, they don't even have chores that they have to do. Their parents want them in Ivy League schools for doctors, lawyers, engineers, so they expect them to do nothing but school work. Clay doesn't have that life. He is trying to balance this insane workload along with working. He's missing vital classes and his work is piling up. Now he's failed a test. He's at risk of failing this course as well as his other ones if he does not get his outstanding work in on time. We're all understanding, but we also have to get the marks in by a set date and we can't change that."

"I know AP is a lot for someone to take and he's got eight classes to try and balance out, but he is trying with everything in him. I've seen that in the short time I've been around him. As for the test, he has a concussion, he's had it for five days so he did have it when he took your test. And I know there is only so much wiggle room you have but is there anything that the school can do, that my team can do, to help him not fail out. The very last thing any of us wants to see is Clay having to repeat any courses or his year. He's too smart for that, you must see that."

"Oh he's very smart. I would guess he has a genius level IQ based on the fact that he is able to do this work without sitting in a classroom. I would highly recommend for him to be tested. If it comes back high enough Clay could take a test to be tested out of future courses, shortening the amount of credits he would need to graduate, lessening his workload. Plus, it would be good for him to have later on in life."

"You think he's a genius?" Jason asked, surprised.

"I do, I think he's gifted. All of us do, he's the one that us teachers talk about the most."

"So then what can we do? Is there something the school can do for him to help him not fail?" The very last thing Jason wanted was for Clay's hard work to be for nothing.

"I've spoken with his other teachers and we all have agreed to let Clay not be here for the next three weeks. I have his assignments that would be assigned to him during that time and there won't be any other tests. Now, he has, including these, forty outstanding assignments that he needs to get done within the next three weeks. Because of how the school and program works, he has to have all assignments in before midterm marks otherwise he fails the course; that goes for all of the students."

"So he gets them in and passes his exams, he'll be ok to continue the school year?"

"Yes. However, he also has four group projects that are typically done with four people. They were assigned a couple of months ago and because of Clay's situation he has had to do them solo. It's a lot of work, but he has told me he's been working on it. He will also need them done as well. Now, the last three days of school are review days. The students come for six-thirty in the morning and they go for twelve hours and they do that for the last three days. The review days are longer because he will get all eight courses each day. He desperately needs to be here for them. That is his chance to ask as many questions as he needs in order to understand this half of the school year's work. He's missed it every time, this time around he needs to be here. As for the exams, they happen in the last week of this month, so they start in four weeks from now. They have two exams each day and with the exception of his Spanish Literature course, each exam is five hours long. They do that for four days and then day five is a backup day in case of bad weather, emergency etc. I've spoken with Ms. Summer, his calculus teacher, and myself have our exam on the first day. We have moved our exam to the last day to give Clay an additional day for him to study and finish assignments. As for his test, I have room to let a bad grade go for the right student. I can eliminate this test as long as he is able to get his work in on time."

"Ok, so he doesn't need to be in school until those review days. And he has everything that he needs to hand in, outside of what you have there?"

It was a lot for Clay to get done in three weeks, plus they could be spun up as well. It was looking to be impossible. Jason was going to speak with Blackburn and see if they could get them grounded for the next month. He might be able to bullshit it for training and that would allow Clay all day long to work on his assignments. What concerned Jason though was the concussion still. The more Clay strained his mind the longer it would take to heal.

"Yes, with this he has everything. I believe he can do it if he gets organized. Right now he is bouncing around from one subject to the next trying to get the furthest assignments done. My suggestion would be for him to take all of his assignments and organize them based on subject. Then he can organize them based on when they were due to get to the most recent ones at the end. Then he focuses on one subject at a time and when he gets all of those assignments done then he can move on to another subject. This will allow his mind to focus better and he won't have to try and get his mind to flip back and forth from one subject to the next. Clay's working hard, but he's not working smart and that comes with experience and age."

"Alright, I'll help him get better organized and we'll help him with understanding his homework. I appreciate everything you've done for him and helping him out like this. Being in school means a lot to him. It's his chance of being a normal sixteen year old."

"He deserves to be a normal sixteen year old. If he has any questions, have him write them down so on review days he can ask his teachers them."

"I will. I appreciate it." Jason said, as he held out his hand.

Mr. Moore easily shook Jason's hand before he handed over the file with the assignments in it.

"Be safe out there." Mr. Moore said.

Jason gave a nod and headed out. He could see Clay sitting in the chair working on some homework in his lap. He looked beyond exhausted and Jason wanted nothing more than to take him back home to his place and let him sleep the night away. He needed to eat though and he needed to get some things organized with Clay first. Jason walked over and placed his hand on Clay's shoulders, causing Clay to jump in his seat.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. We're all set to head out."

Clay gave a nod and packed up his things. They headed out and Clay got into Jason's truck before he spoke.

"Am I in trouble?"

Jason hated how much fear was in Clay's voice. He wanted nothing more than to take Clay away from this whole life.

"No kid, you're not in trouble. Mr. Moore was very nice and understanding of your situation, all of your teachers are. There are assignments in that folder he gave me for the rest of the semester from your teachers. There's some things we have to talk about." Jason said, as he started his truck.

"Ok." Clay said, unsure.

"It's nothing bad. First, your test, he said he would be able to eliminate it from your grade as long as you get your assignments in before your exam. So that was easy to handle and Ash never has to know we even had that conversation. Him and your Spanish Literature teacher have also moved your exam to the last day of exams to give you some more time to study and finish assignments."

"That was nice of him. I know he's been frustrated with me not being there."

"He's frustrated, but not towards you. He's frustrated towards the situation that you are in. It's a lot to put on someone, especially you Clay. You're not eating right, not sleeping enough plus you have work on top of this school workload. It's too much for one kid to handle. That's what frustrates him. Now, you have all of your assignments that you have outstanding with you?"

"Ya in my bag. Why?"

"Because for the next three weeks you are going to be out of school and working on the assignments. You can do it at the base and we can help you with them. He said there's about forty assignments plus four final projects you need to get done within three weeks. I'll talk to Blackburn when we get back to see about getting us grounded until your exams are over. I think he'll be able to do it, because of the training you need. You also need to be there for the three days of review as well."

"But your team must have operations they have to go on. You guys can't just be grounded." Clay said, confused why Jason would even offer to be grounded.

"It's our team and the team is family. We've been grounded at times over the years. It happens when you go for a few years without much of a break. The team is owed some down time and we can say it's for training before we have to go on tour. You need this month for school, but you also need it to get healthy again. You need to get caught up on sleep and eating properly. Blackburn can normally get us what we request so we'll be down for a month and that will let you get healthy and focused on school work. We can do training and help you with your assignments. Then moving forward for the next half of your school year, we'll work it out and get a system in place that will allow you to get your school work done without losing so much sleep. We'll work on some time management and help get you into a routine."

"Are you sure?" Clay said, he really didn't want to put anyone out.

"Completely and the team will be happy to have some time at home, especially Ray. He's got two kids, a seven year old and a soon to be one year old, so any extra time he can spend at home he is happy about. It'll be good and it'll be perfect for us going on tour in two months. We got a lot we normally have to do in the month leading up to it, especially Davis. This will give us some time to get training in for you and you can get caught up on what you need."

"Ok, if you are sure. I don't want to cause problems."

"You aren't." Jason reassured.

Clay decided to change the subject. "We have tour in two months?"

"Yes, we'll be heading to J-Bad for three months. Are there things you need to do to get ready for it?"

"I have to get my assignments from my teachers and when I get back I write all of the missed tests. I'll have to let Ash know so he can pay my rent and utilities for me."

"Ok, well if you need any help with anything just let us know and we'll help get you organized. I know it's hard to leave for three months."

"It must be harder for you guys. With having kids and a wife."

"Only Ray and Blackburn have a wife, officially anyways. Trent has a long-time girlfriend, but they don't have any interest in being married. They've been together though for like ten years almost now. Brock has been seeing a woman for about three years now and Sonny is single. He likes being single. Only Ray and me have kids and like I've told you, mine are away at school. It's hard on Ray with having younger children and a wife, but Niama is amazing and she's used to the life. They have a great marriage and they make it work."

"That's good. I would imagine it's hard."

"It can be. It takes the right people, and the right woman to handle this life."

Clay gave a nod to that, he imagined that it would have one hell of a strain on a marriage or a relationship. He knew that him and Dave have had problems from them both being in the military and they didn't even have a normal relationship. They arrived on base and headed inside. Jason had texted Blackburn on the way asking to speak with him. They headed inside and Jason took Clay to the Team lounge. He knew the other teams could be coming and going, but mostly it was just Bravo and Alpha that used it. It would give Clay a quiet place to work and they would be able to check in on him throughout. Everyone was there including Blackburn who had the folders in his hand that Jason asked him to pick up.

"Hey kid, how was school?" Sonny asked with a warm smile.

"Ok. How is work?"

"Good, been running drills like we normally do when we're not spun up."

Jason spoke as he took the folders from Blackburn with a nod of thanks. "Alright kid, you can get started working here. Trent will grab you some food for dinner. These folders, I want you to write the name of your course on each one and then organize all of your assignments in the folders. Have the oldest assignments first and then move back until the ones that are newer. From there, I want you to focus on one folder at a time. Right now you are bouncing around eight subjects and having to switch your thinking around. You need to focus on one subject at a time right now to get the most done."

"I get what you're saying. It'll let me stay on the same brain path instead of bouncing around." Clay said with understanding in his voice as he started to write on the folders.

"If you have questions, we're here for you. We got Jackson, he's an engineer so physics and calculus he's your guy. He's on our support staff and he's around base all the time."

"I got biology." Trent said.

"What are the other courses?" Sonny asked

"History, Psychology, English Lit, Spanish Lit and Chemistry." Clay answered.

"I got English Lit and History." Ray easily said.

"I can help with those too." Jason added.

"Psychology." Brock said.

"No one can help you with Spanish Lit." Sonny commented.

"We'll figure out Chemistry. The point is there is someone in this team or on our support team that can help you if you have questions so don't be afraid to ask. It's better for you to ask then sit around being stuck for hours. Ask questions, no one here will give you a hard time over it." Blackburn said.

"Ok, I appreciate it." Clay said.

"I'll grab you some dinner." Trent said with a warm smile.

Sonny went over to the table and started to help Clay get his assignments organized with him. Jason took Blackburn off to the side so he could speak with him.

"Do you think it's possible we could get the next month grounded?"

"I might be able to swing it, why?"

"The kid needs it. He's too stressed, too run down and he's at the point of breaking. He's got a lot on his plate with school, he's at risk of failing his courses and having to redo the year. Plus, he's still not healthy or has the training he needs to get through the tour. A month gives him until the end of this semester and his exams without having to try and do it while being spun up. It also gives us a month of him eating and sleeping properly."

"I could take it to Admiral Anderson and get him to approve it. It shouldn't be too hard of a sell. Bravo has been going nonstop basically for three years. I should be able to swing it ya."

"Good, that'll help. After his exams will be done and then the next half of the school year we'll get him on a better routine so he won't be drowning in homework all the time. His teacher, Mr. Moore thinks he might be a genius. He suggested having Clay tested, is that something the military could do?"

"Ya we could do that. I can put in the form for him to be evaluated and tested. It'll take a week probably to come back, but he'll be able to get in pretty quick. Have you talked to the kid about it?"

"Not yet, I will tomorrow when I take him to get some new clothes. I just wanted to make sure it's something he could do here."

"The military does it all the time, normally with newer recruits, but we can easily get the kid in. The military likes geniuses, if he is that could give us a leg to stand on. If the Navy can see value in a future with Clay, they'll keep the CIA out of it."

"I like that. Let's get it setup and I'll talk to him about it tomorrow."

"I gave Kate Clay's enlistment contract."

"Did she get anything we can use out of it?"

Kate was a lawyer that was currently retired, but she did pro bono work for the right person.

"It's solid in terms of Clay being stuck until he's twenty-one. However, she said there were some loopholes that could improve his time in the navy. She's going to look through it more closely today and make some notes."

"I'll take whatever we can get right now. If it makes him have an easier time here it'll be worth it."

"Agreed. I'll let you know."

Jason gave a nod and headed back over to Clay and Sonny. Clay had managed to get everything organized and now he seemed to be going through the folders to see which one he wanted to do first.

"I would start with whatever subject you are fastest at. Get as many subjects done as quickly as you can so you can focus on the ones that will take longer." Jason suggested.

Clay just gave a nod and he went and picked up the calculus folder to get to work on those assignments.

"You got everything you need? You don't need a calculator or something?" Sonny asked.

"I do it in my head." Clay answered, as he was already answering questions.

"You do calculus in your head?" Ray asked, surprised.

"Ya, don't you make the calculations for shots in your head?" Clay asked, looking up this time.

"Of course ya, but it's not really advanced calculus."

"Same principle though. Once you are used to it, you just change the variables around for what you need it for."

"I guess ya." Ray said, as he thought about it. Still he would never be able to do calculus in his head.

Trent walked back into the room with some dinner for Clay. He just grabbed some salad and a grilled chicken burger for him. He wanted to introduce some carbs into Clay's system and the best way to do that was with sandwiches and burgers. With Trent was also Full Metal and Derek.

"We heard you got a new team member, we thought we would come check him out." Full Metal said.

"Clay Spenser, meet Full Metal, Alpha One and Derek, Alpha Two." Jason said.

"Hey Kid, how are ya?" Derek asked with a warm smile.

"I'm well Sir."

"Whoa drop the sir with me ok?" Derek said warmly.

"Same with me. I hate that shit." Full Metal added.

"When we need to roll out with another team Alpha goes with us. So you'll be seeing them in action a lot too. You don't gotta worry about them giving any information on you to Ash though." Jason explained.

"Fuck no. I can't stand that son of a bitch." Full Metal said.

"Maybe we don't swear that much around the kid." Derek commented with a smirk.

"I've heard swear words before it's fine. I'm sixteen not six." Clay commented as he continued to work once again.

"Fair enough." Derek said.

Derek then looked at the others and nodded his head over to the kitchen area before he moved over. The others followed as Trent spoke to Clay.

"Make sure you eat, don't get lost in that big brain of yours."

Clay just gave a distracted nod and Trent smirked at him. This kid was going to get under all of their skin. Trent joined the others and Derek spoke softly so Clay wouldn't overhear.

"Jesse called Trish and told her about the kid's living situation. Trish is good friends with our landlord, they grew up together. She spoke to him about the kid's situation as well, with limited military detail. He was pissed that a sixteen year old was living in a place like that and his father was being an asshole. The apartment across from us is empty and he's going to allow Clay to move in there for three hundred a month until he is able to afford more. He can sign the lease without an adult signature as well. Plus he's not going to charge a security deposit."

"That's amazing. He could get out of that apartment and into something that's actually decent. He won't be hounded by gangs or drug addicts." Ray said, very happy about this.

"I thought the kid said that Ash checks in on him, that he likes him living there." Sonny said.

"He does, but if he moves it's not like Ash will be able to find him." Trent said.

"Kate has to do some research, but she was pretty confident that Clay could get emancipated." Blackburn said.

"That would get rid of the asshole problem." Full Metal commented.

"She has to look into it, but we'll know in a couple of days what we can do with the enlistment and if he can get emancipated." Blackburn said.

"Even if he can't, which I doubt that'll happen he signed a twelve year old up for the navy. I would be shocked if a judge said no. He should still move. When can he move?" Jason asked.

"Anytime. He probably already paid rent for this month, so it would probably be better starting next month. With him living right next to me I can check in on him and when I'm not spun up I could drive him to school. There is also a bus stop right out front of our apartment, it should be about a twenty minute bus ride to school. Plus there's a grocery store a block away. Heat and water is included so it's just electricity he would have to pay for." Derek said.

"Ash pays his rent while he's on tour, is there a way for the military to do it?" Jason asked Blackburn.

"There is a program where an amount off your paycheque will automatically go to your landlord while you are away on tour. We can get Clay set up with it and then there is no need for Ash to even know where he is living."

"Perfect. The sooner we get that asshole out of his life the better." Sonny said.

"Let the landlord know that Clay will take it and he can move in on the first. That will also give us a month to get him what he needs for it. I'll talk to him tomorrow about the IQ test, but I don't want to talk to him about the emancipation or possible changes to his enlistment. I want to wait until we have something solid before telling him. The very last thing I want to do is get his hopes up." Jason said.

"IQ test?" Ray asked.

"His physics teacher thinks the kid is gifted. He recommended having an IQ test done. Blackburn is going to submit the paperwork to have him evaluated." Jason answered.

"Couldn't that just give the CIA more ammo to use to get him?" Sonny asked.

"If he does have a high IQ it will make him more appealing towards the CIA, but also the Navy. The Navy does not like to give us geniuses, if the kid does have a genius level IQ, it could be what we need to get more allies and get the CIA off his back." Blackburn answered.

"He's gotta have a high IQ, he's over there doing advanced calculus in his head. That's something you are born with." Ray said.

"Damn." Full Metal said, impressed.

"Will he be bothered having to do it?" Derek asked.

"I don't know. I don't think it'll be too bad to convince him to do it. He must have questions about his IQ. He had to know that what he is doing is not normal. Like Ray said, he's doing advanced calculus right now without a calculator, how many sixteen year olds can do that? He's gotta have questions about it all." Jason said.

"I think he'll do it, it might be something he's wanted to do. People, especially kids that have a high IQ, are very curious by nature. They want to learn, they need it, they need to understand what is going on. Once he gets comfortable around us, he's going to constantly be asking us questions about everything." Trent said.

"And he can. I got no problem answering questions if it's for learning. We'll just need to make sure he understands who he can ask questions to and who he can't be asking them around. The last thing we need is some Upper Brass thinking he's questioning our authority. I'll go over all of that tomorrow with him when I take him clothes shopping." Jason said.

"You're taking him shopping?" Full Metal asked with a smirk.

"He needs clothes and I don't trust him to actually go. He'll probably start working on homework and he'll forget to come up for air. He desperately needs new clothes, his are falling apart." Jason said.

"For now we proceed as normal. I'll know more from Kate about his contract and what we can do for him. Derek, let the landlord know that Clay will take it and we can approach it with Clay in a couple of days once we have more information from Kate." Blackburn said.

Everyone gave a nod and they knew this discussion was over. They needed more information first before they could move forward with any plans. For tonight Clay would be working on his homework and the rest of them would be doing their own paperwork. Tomorrow with it being Saturday they could rest and Jason could speak with Clay on a more casual level and hopefully get more out of it.

When it was six that night Jason went over to Clay as they others were already packing up and getting ready to head out.

"Hey kid, it's time to get out of here."

"Ok." Clay asked, as he continued to work the calculus problem that he was on.

Jason couldn't help but smile at him. He was in his own little world right now. He went through the completed assignments that Clay had been able to get through in the past couple of hours. He finished three and by the looks of it had three more to go including the one he was on. He was making good progress, but Jason was worried about his concussion. It wasn't good for Clay to be working this much while he was concussed. Once Clay finished that question Jason went and placed his hand down on top of the assignment, snapping Clay out of his head. Clay looked up and it was clear to Jason that he thought he was alone.

"It's time to go." Jason said with a warm smile.

"Oh, ok." Clay said, trying to get his mind out of his homework.

Clay packed up his things and grabbed his backpack and together they headed out.

"How's the head?" Jason asked.

"Hurts, but I'm used to it." Clay said with a shrug.

"That's not something you're supposed to get used to Clay."

"I'll be fine." Clay said and Jason could tell he was saying it so he would stop worrying about Clay. Jason decided to let it go, for now.

"I'll give you a ride." Jason said, as they walked outside.

"Are you sure? I don't mind taking the bus."

"You're coming with me." Jason said with a smile.

He didn't want to sound demanding, but he also didn't want Clay taking a bus unless he had to. They got into his truck and Clay pulled out his homework and got back to work with it. Jason just shook his head and headed out. He stayed quiet so Clay could focus on his school work, it worked out well in his favor, because he wasn't taking Clay to his shitty apartment. By the time they arrived at Jason's apartment, Clay had been able to finish the assignment he was working on before they left the base. Clay looked up when Jason turned his truck off, confused as to where they were.

"Where are we?" Clay asked.

"My place. Come on." Jason said, as he got out of the truck.

Clay put his school work away and tried not to show that he was upset about being here. He didn't think Jason would be like this, would want this from him. He didn't really know Jason all that well, but he thought he was different from the rest of the team guys he's been around. He also didn't really want this feeling associated with Jason. He was starting to trust him, something that Clay never did, but Jason just felt safe. Clay didn't even know what safe felt like, but that is what Jason felt like to him and now he was going to be just another set of hands on his skin.

Clay got out of the truck and walked with Jason up to his apartment. Once inside Clay took a quick look around and saw that it was a simple apartment. There was a living room, dining room and a kitchen all together in one area. It wasn't small though and there was breathing room. It was a lot nicer than his own place. Clay placed his bag down as Jason went over and put his keys away and took his coat off. Clay really didn't want to drag things out so he went over to Jason and placed his hand on Jason's covered crotch as he spoke with a dead tone.

"So how do you like it?"

The second Clay touched him Jason was grabbing his wrist gently and pulling back. "Whoa, no. Clay god no."

"No touching, copy that. So you're more of a mouth and ass guy then."

Jason couldn't believe the words that were coming out of Clay's mouth, out of a sixteen year old kid's mouth. He was hearing them, but he couldn't believe he was hearing them.

"Clay, I don't want anything sexual from you. That's not why I brought you here." Jason explained gently as he moved Clay's hand away and let it go before he stepped back to put more distance between them.

The confusion that went across Clay's face only broke Jason's heart more. This had clearly been something that was so routine to Clay that he just naturally assumed that is what was going to happen up here. Like Jason would just have sex with a sixteen year old.

"Come sit down." Jason said, as he guided Clay over to one of his couches.

They sat down, Jason making sure he wasn't too close to Clay to send any mixed signals.

"I don't understand." Clay started.

"And that is what is breaking my heart, because you should understand this. You should never be expecting for someone to demand anything sexual from you, especially a grown adult. I was going to wait until you knew me better before bringing this up, but now it seems like we need to have this conversation."

"What conversation?" Clay asked, confused.

"I want you to know that no matter what you say, I'm not going to hold anything against you. I'm not going to be upset with you or bring it up unless you do. There is no judgment at all." Jason paused to make sure that Clay understood that before continuing. "Trent reviewed your medical file so he would have a better understanding of what he needed to do for you to help get you healthy. We discovered that you had been raped at twelve."

"I was never raped." Clay instantly said.

"Clay, we saw your file. We know you were given an STD, the same STD that someone in your unit had. It was traced back to him. We know that you needed stitches and had to be monitored overnight for internal bleeding. We know you've had multiple STDs over the past four years. We know you were raped by someone in your unit." Jason said calmly and as gently as he could.

"No, that wasn't rape. He didn't rape me. He would never hurt me like that. I willingly slept with him and he felt terrible that I was hurt from it. He was a lot more careful afterwards. I've never been raped." Clay simply said.

Jason didn't even know where to start with any of what Clay just said. He honestly didn't. The fact that Clay had no idea that what happened to him was rape, willing or not he was twelve and nowhere near old enough to consent. Or the fact that he said that it happened more than once with this guy and it seemed like he was still with him.

"Clay, are you and him still having sex?" Jason asked, keeping all of his anger in check.

"I'm not supposed to talk about that."

"So that's a yes then. Clay, you are smart, very smart, you must know that anyone that wants to sleep with a twelve year old can't have good intentions. He can't be a good man."

"He's not like that. He loves me, we're in love. He cares about me. It's not like what you're thinking. He was there for me when I first started, he made sure I was trained and he was there that first time I killed someone on a mission. He's not some predator." Clay said in Dave's defense.

"And even if all of that is true, say he does love you. Then he should love you enough to wait until you are an adult. He should love you enough to wear a condom so he doesn't give you an STD. He should love you enough to say no to being within you sexually because even as a sixteen year old, your body shouldn't be having that type of sex, especially with a grown man. Clay, do you know how dangerous it can be?" Jason asked, calmly.

"He would never intentionally hurt me." Clay said.

"And I understand that you feel that way. But I'm not talking about him, I'm talking about in general how dangerous that type of sex can be for someone your age." This was a very awkward conversation that Jason did not think he would ever have to have, but it was one he was going to be having. He survived war multiple times, he could handle a sex talk.

"I know it hurts for a few minutes, but I don't see how it's dangerous." Clay said, confused.

Jason forced his anger down at hearing that Clay was hurt during it, and he expected it to hurt. Everything in his life was wrong. "It's dangerous between two fully grown adults if it is not done properly. People can get internal bleeding, they can puncture their colon and need to have surgery. It's something that needs to be done very carefully to ensure that both parties, but especially the one bottoming is safe. That is all before you factor in that a young man like yourself is still growing. Most males don't stop developing and growing until they are eighteen. It's dangerous for you, a young male to have a grown adult having sex with them, because your body is not ready to handle a grown male inside of you." Jason attempted to explain, but he knew himself that it really didn't sound all that clear.

Jason let out a sigh before he spoke again. "Ok, no more beating around the bush, that's not helping. You are sixteen and he is older than you, I don't know how old, but I know he's at least late twenties at the youngest. Your body is not ready to handle a grown ass man's penis inside of your ass. And it definitely wasn't ready at twelve. It can cause damage to your body if you are not properly stretched to accommodate his size."

"Stretched?" Clay asked.

"Yes Clay stretched. Do you know what that is?"

Clay just shook his head no and Jason knew that meant that he had never been stretched before, making him having sex even more dangerous for him.

"It's important before you have sex that you are strecthed to make it easier for him to be in you. Normally it's with their fingers, he would insert one finger at a time inside of you and gently stretch your opening. So when he does insert himself inside of you it won't hurt and it won't cause any damage. Him not stretching you will cause it to hurt, you could bleed and it could cause damage that could put you in the hospital."

"None of them have ever done that." Clay said with a shrug.

"How many men have you been with?" Jason asked, afraid of the answer.

"In the past four years, roughly a hundred."

"One hundred?" Jason asked, shocked.

"Roughly between targets and the teams. Is that bad?"

Clay really wasn't too sure how that sounded. He was just so used to it at this point. He loved Dave and he knew it was different with him. The others he really didn't want to be with, but what choice did he have? He had to do what the teams wanted or they told Ash that he didn't follow the rules and he was just punished for it. Ash's punishments were always worse than anything the team wanted.

"Not in the sense that you are thinking. It's bad that you had to go through that, especially at twelve. They should never have put you into that position where you were forced to have sex with targets or anyone in the teams you were on. I'm assuming you were ordered to do it."

Clay gave a nod as he spoke. "If I didn't they would tell Ash that I broke a rule and then he would punish me for it. It was just safer to do what they wanted. It's just sex, it's not like it matters right? At least it feels good eventually, sometimes, in the past couple of years."

"Even though it might feel good, that doesn't mean you want it or that you are enjoying it. Your body is full of hormones, anything right now would feel good whether you want it or not. That doesn't make it ok and there is no just thing as just sex. These aren't one night stands with someone you met at school or on a dating app. These are adults that know what they are doing is hurting you and wrong. Especially the ones that you were placed on a team with. They were supposed to be there to help you grow and protect you. They weren't supposed to cause you pain or take advantage of a bad situation. Not saying no and not fighting back isn't the same as saying yes."

"Does that mean I don't have to distract the targets anymore?" Clay asked, trying not to let his hopefulness show.

"There will never ever be a time where I order or even ask you to distract a target or sleep with them. No one in Bravo or Alpha would ever ask that of you. Just like there is no one within our team or Alpha's that would ever touch you or expect you to touch them. There is never going to be a time where we want anything sexual from you. Sixteen or not, to us you are a kid and you will be a kid long after you turn twenty-one. You are our kid brother and we will never let anyone hurt you like that." Jason said with strength to his voice.

"But then why bring me here? Why didn't you bring me home?" Clay asked, still a little confused about all of this. It was a huge difference to what he was used to.

"I wanted to bring you here so you could have a quiet place to work on some homework and sleep. I wanted you to be able to get a good night's sleep in a bed that had a blanket and pillows. To be in a place that wasn't cold like your apartment. I figured tomorrow I'd make us some breakfast and we would go to the mall and get you some clothes and afterwards I could take you back to your place or you could hang out here again. It wasn't for me to take advantage of you or demand anything from you other than you being just a sixteen year old kid."

"Oh, no one's ever done that before." Clay admitted, surprised by this.

"I get that now. I'm sorry I should have said something to you, but I wasn't expecting that type of reaction."

"No I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed you were like the others. I'm glad you're not. It would have really hurt if you were." Clay said with a sad smile.

"You never, ever, have to worry about something like that with me ok? I promise you."

"So, you don't want anything from me?" Clay asked, looking for confirmation.

"I want you to be healthy, happy, and safe, just like I want everyone else on the team to be. The team is a family, we are always going to be there for each other and you are now a part of that family. You're our kid brother and we will always be there to support you, help you, protect you and love you. I know a family is something you're not used to and it'll take time, but you can trust us. We will always be there for you and we will always have your back whether you are right or wrong. All I want from you is to be happy, healthy and safe, that's it."

"It's gonna take a little getting used to." Clay admitted.

"I know, we know, and you'll get there. Now, do you have any questions about what we talked about or any other sexual questions that I could answer?"

Clay just shook his head and Jason was thankful for it. He could have kept talking about sex if Clay needed him to, but he really didn't want to. All this conversation had done was piss him off and now made him terrified for the sex talk with Mickey one day.

"Alright, what would you like to do? Do you want to watch something on TV, take a shower? Are you hungry?" Jason asked.

"I should get to work on the rest of my calculus assignments. If I hurry I should be able to get the last two done tonight. Then I can move on to Spanish Lit."

"Ok, but you are in bed for ten tonight and you can sleep in until nine. I'll make us some breakfast before we head out to the mall. How about a snack?"

"Sure, I'm a little hungry." Clay answered as he went over to his backpack and Jason headed to his kitchen.

"You get comfy and I will get us a snack."

Jason looked through his kitchen to see what he could feed Clay that wouldn't mess around with his system. He looked over and saw Clay sitting on the couch already at work with his homework. He couldn't help but notice how natural he looked sitting there. It was as if Clay was one of his own kids just doing homework in the living room. Jason couldn't help but notice the slight warmth that went through his chest at the sight. He had no idea what it was about Clay, but he was quickly invading his heart. Jason had no idea what he was going to do about anything that he heard tonight. He wasn't going to ignore the fact that Clay was still having sex with whoever had raped him when he was twelve.

He was going to be finding out who it was and then he had no idea what he would do. He would have loved to kill him, but that would put him in jail and he had kids to think about. Though, Full Metal probably has disposed of a body before and he could probably do it again. It was something he would need to work out once he discovered who this man was. For now, he was going to be keeping an even closer eye on Clay and getting him to stay over here as much as possible in the next month. The sooner they could get Clay into a new apartment with Derek right across from him the better, because then it wouldn't just be the team watching out for Clay, but also Derek. Derek would be able to report back on who was coming and going out of Clay's apartment and then they would have a better idea of what Ash and this other guy was doing to their kid. For tonight, Jason was going to breathe easy knowing that Clay was under his roof where he was safe and cared for.

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

_**Hey guys! I have a couple of new books out that are available on Amazon. Please check them out and my website (www diannerose ca). Also you can follow me on Facebook diannerose2016 for more updates on upcoming books.**_

_**Finding Cypris (Saving Cypris Series Book 1)**_

"_**I hated this world, but it was the world I belonged in. I was trapped in Hell and no one was going to be able to save my soul. I wasn't worth it."**_

_**Twenty-two-year old Cypris Salvatore knows what the devil's face looks like. He had seen it since he was three years old peering down at him. Being forced into a life where nightmares lived had become his normal and the thought of being free from it never even crossed his mind. He was alone in this world and there was no one that could save him. Could free him from his circle of hell. Only death could do that.**_

"_**Cypris was out there somewhere and I was determined to bring him home, even if it was only a body."**_

_**A hard life bouncing around from foster home to foster home has left scars on Jace Freeman both physically and mentally. As a muscle for hire he never expected to be taking a bullet for the Dominic Salvatore over protecting his employer. That bullet changed everything for him. In an instant he had a family that he would do anything to protect. For five years he had been looking all over the country for Dom's youngest brother Cypris, who had ranaway at sixteen. When he finally finds him it turns everyone's life upside down. Old family secrets start to come forth, putting a vulnerable Cypris in danger. **_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Jason and Clay made their way over to a spot to sit down and eat their lunch. So far the day had gone well. Clay slept close to twelve hours before he had woken up to the smell of breakfast. Jason had made them some bacon and eggs, something he knew that Clay liked and it went over well in his stomach. After breakfast they headed for the mall to get Clay some clothes. Clay had never been to a mall before in his life, but he did find out he liked trying to find his own style and not what he was told to wear. Jason normally hated being in a mall, but he was finding he enjoyed watching Clay just being a normal sixteen year old. He hadn't seen Clay smile yet or heard him laugh, but they were getting closer. After getting some clothes, Jason had treated Clay to lunch, something Clay was still awkward about. It was getting busy here so they sat down at a free table and started to eat. They had gotten chinese food, Clay had gotten rice and some honey garlic chicken to try.

"How is it?" Jason asked, as Clay ate.

"It's really good. Thank-you for all of this, for letting me crash at your place last night and bringing me here. It's the nicest thing anyone has ever done, I really appreciate it." Clay said, sincerely.

"It's no problem at all Sunshine. You can crash at my place anytime, I mean it. It's good seeing you act more your age. There must be something you want to do, something that isn't work or school related. Something fun."

"Well, I don't know if it counts as fun, but I want to learn how to drive."

"Now that is what a sixteen year old is supposed to do. Have you written the test yet?"

It wasn't high on the fun scale, but it was something that every normal sixteen year old would want to do. It was also something they could teach him easily on base.

"No, I studied for it a few months ago, but I haven't written it yet." Clay said, slightly sad.

"Why not?"

"Six months ago I asked Ash if I could get my license, he said I could. So I studied for it and when I was ready I asked when he would give me the money for it. He said I wasn't good enough for him to give me the money for it yet. Said I hadn't done anything worthy for the reward. That it was irrelevant because he was never going to teach me how to drive and I would never earn the right for the money for driving lessons." Clay said with a small shrug.

"He's a real grade-a asshole. Military pays for all of the driving exams, written and practical, you just have to fill out a form. And me and the guys can easily teach you, you don't have to pay for lessons. Believe it or not Sonny is a great driver."

"Really?" Clay asked, as Jason could see the hope in his eyes.

"Ya Sunshine. We can fill out the forms on Monday if you want."

"Yes, please, yes."

"Alright, Sonny will probably start teaching you on base." Jason said, warmly.

"Thank-you." Clay said with a big smile.

"Wow, a smile, it looks good on you." Jason said, with a smile himself.

It felt really good to see a smile on Clay's face. He was a sixteen year old kid living in an adult world. He needed to have more fun in his life. He needed to be able to just be a kid and not feel like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"There are some things I wanted to talk to you about, nothing bad. There was something your teacher said yesterday and I'm thinking he's right." Jason started.

"About what?"

"He mentioned that he believes you are a genius. He recommended that you get tested. Now that is something that can be done through the military, Blackburn just has to file a form. I think it would be something that is good for you to do. It would also help with keeping the CIA away. If the Navy knew how smart you are, they would gain more interest in you. How would you feel about it?" Jason asked, camly.

"Ya, I want to. I know I'm not normal, you kinda figure that out when the other kids in your AP classes look at you funny when you don't need a calculator. Even more so when the teacher does it. Gram and Gramps used to whisper about it when I was younger. They were worried I wouldn't live up to my potential because I wasn't getting what I needed. It used to make them sad." Clay said, with a sad smile at the memory.

"Your grandparents sound like they loved you very much. Part of being a parent is feeling guilty for not giving your child everything they deserve or need. All we can do is our best with what we are given and it sounds like they did just that with you. They taught you everything they could and raised a very impressive kid." Jason said, warmly.

"Ash says I'm a disappointment." Clay said, sadly.

Jason hated that Clay wanted Ash's approval. Ash didn't deserve to have Clay as a son, he didn't deserve the privilege. Clay didn't need Ash's approval, he didn't anyone's and Jason was going to make sure he understood that one day. He was going to free Clay from Ash and all of his abuse if it was the last thing he did.

"Ash is the disappointment, not you Sunshine. I promise you, the very last thing you are is a disappointment. I know it's hard, I know you've been through a lot with him, but believe me when I say you don't need his approval. He's an abusive asshole, that doesn't deserve to have you in his life." Jason said, with a strength to his voice that had Clay feeling like he might be right.

"Thank-you." Clay said, softly.

Jason could tell he meant it, but he could also tell he was still unsure about what he had said. Jason knew though that it would take a long time before Clay ever fully recovered from the abuse by Ash.

"I'll let Blackburn know that you would like to take the test. It'll probably be within a week. Humor me though for a second, what do you see in this room?" Jason asked, hoping to get more insight into how Clay's mind processes things.

"What do you see?" Clay challenged, with a small smirk.

Jason was willing to play along. "Approximately seventy-five people, more males than females, all in varying ages. Twelve kids, twenty-two restaurants, six exits, bathrooms to the right with a lineup for the family washroom of three people. Security guards to the northwest exit, six employees cleaning tables and collecting trays. What do you see?"

"I see all of that, but I also see eighty-two tables, thirty-four are dark brown and forty-eight are black. Telling me that some have been broken and replaced. Three hundred and twenty-eight chairs, with only ninety-two occupants. Six high chairs, four girls and two boys all under the age of one. There are five thousand and thirty-eight tiles on the floor based on the size and square footage of the room. There's a lock on the southeast exit, making it inoperable. The fifth ceiling fan isn't working, despite the others ones around it, telling me it's broken. The TVs are all playing on the same loop, but they are times differently so people believe something different is on each one. There's two hundred and nine flowers in the room; fifty-eight white, thirty-eight yellow, sixty-five pink, forty purple and eight dead." Clay said.

Jason couldn't believe this, it was like the kid was a human camera. He had to of had some type of photographic memory to be able to pick up on the smallest of details within the room.

"Wow, is that all you see?" Jason asked, impressed.

"No, I could tell you about the people." Clay said, feeling a bit braver and less like a freak.

"Tell me what you see." Jason said, warmly.

"The cleaning lady at two o'clock has been cleaning the same twenty-three trays for the past ten minutes. She's texting someone and trying to hide it. The security guard that you saw, the shorter one is trying to quit smoking. He keeps fidgeting and looking at the door, he wants to go out."

"How do you know it's to smoke?" Jason challenged.

"You can see just the hint of a nicotine patch on his arm where his uniform shirt isn't covering. It's a light brown, but not his exact skin color. The man sitting alone at your three o'clock." Clay started, and Jason turned to look. "He's been reading the same page since we sat down. He's trying to make it appear like he isn't watching that teenage couple making out. He keeps looking around causally, but the tension in his shoulders tells me he's trying to hide the fact that he's got a boner from watching them. You can see the outline through his jeans. Considering they are roughly thirteen, I can safely assume he's a predator and would be an easy mark if I had to distract him for an operation."

"Which you will never do again." Jason said, with strength to his voice.

Clay gave a nod and continued. "That woman, with the crying newborn, she's feeling embarrassed because her daughter is making so much noise. She also has dark bags under her eyes and no wedding ring, most likely a single mother. The couple just three tables over from her are in trouble. The man is clearly annoyed by the crying and the woman looks worried. She's been moving her food around the plate since we got here, not actually eating it. Her face is slightly puffy and she looks pale. She keeps putting her hand on her lower stomach. She's pregnant, first trimester and based on how both parties are reacting, he doesn't know and he doesn't like kids."

"That is amazing. How can you pick all of that up when we've only been sitting here for fifteen minutes." Jason said, amazed as he turned back to face Clay.

"I've always been really good at remembering things that I've seen, read or heard. It kinda gets imprinted on my brain and then I never forget it. As for people, I like people. I'm not really good at the social part, but I like to know who they are, where they came from, their story. Growing up I used to read behavioral analysis books that Gramps had. They were really fascinating and from then on I would watch people, sometimes for hours. I like learning, and I like to learn anything that I can. I find it interesting how someone can grow up to be who they are and why. I mean take the navy for example, all of these people coming from all over the country from different walks of life, they all come together to defend this country. And each one has a story as to why they picked this career. I find it all interesting."

"The love of learning is a good thing to have. And like I've said, we'll teach you everything we know. You never have to hesitate to ask a question around us, we'll always do our best to answer it for you. With that said though, there are people in Upper Brass or other teams, that will think you are questioning orders or the chain of command. So if there comes a time where we tell you to stay quiet, it's because we don't want someone taking it the wrong way and giving you shit over it. It's not personal, it's to protect you." Jason really wanted to make that distinction very clear. He didn't want Clay thinking they were embarrassed by him or just playing around with him. He wanted Clay to feel comfortable enough to ask questions, but he had to make sure nothing was asked around the wrong people. They had no idea who was in Ash's backpocket.

"I understand. I normally stay quiet to begin with. I know a lot of people don't appreciate questions coming from a sixteen year old to begin with, but then you factor in rankings and it gets worse."

"I know the politics behind the military can be complicated and make no sense, but it's something we have to deal with." Jason said, with a shrug.

They ate in silence for a few moments before Clay surprised Jason by breaking the silence. "I read something interesting in my psychology book a couple days ago."

"Ya? What was it?" Jason was trying to encourage Clay to talk more, and part of that was being interested in whatever Clay had to say.

"There was an experiment about five years back with some of the top police detectives and active military operators. There were fifty total, all from different departments, ages, and experience on the job, one was a rookie just a few months in and another was twenty-five years on the job. They were all brought down to tackle house and were told to go in one at a time to apprehend a suspect. So the first one went in by himself and made it to the center of the tackle house. Where he saw identical twin males standing over a dead body. The males were both wearing a red t-shirt and the same blue jeans. The one twin was holding a gun, and the other twin was covered in blood from trying to help the victim. Each person walked into the exact same scene and every did the same thing, and gave chase. Both twins ran together down the hallways and around a few corners. Around one corner the twin with the gun no longer had it, but each person followed the same twin down a hallway when they split. After everyone had gone the instructors of the experiment told everyone that they all arrested the same man, and the other twin was gone in the wind."

"So it was a success?" Jason asked, not sure where Clay was going with this.

"It was in a sense. The instructor asked people to describe the man that they arrested, the one they said was the killer. They all gave the same description, short brown hair, medium height, medium build, red t-shirt, blue jeans. Then they were asked to describe the man that got away and they gave the exact same description. Everyone thought they had passed, but then the instructor asked them what color of shoes the shooter was wearing. No one knew the answer. Trained professionals could tell you everything about the man they arrested, but they couldn't tell you his shoe color. The instructor told them the man that was trying to save the victim had black shoes on, but the man that killed the victim had red."

"The man they all arrested had black shoes on." Jason stated as he saw where this was going.

"Yup. The experiment was to showcase how even some of the most highly trained individuals can miss the smallest details. That they needed to be trained differently for their minds to be able to pick up even the smallest details in the heart of battle. My teacher wanted us to learn how the mind can take in hundreds of details, but it filters them out and only gives us a handful so our mind can comprehend what is happening. Open your mind up to take in too much detail and you risk insanity. My teacher says it's a fine line that you have to walk."

"I've known a few guys since enlisting that had crossed that insanity line. They were brilliant, but their mind got away from them. They started to see things that weren't there. They got paranoid and eventually discharged because of it. The mind is a very delicate organ that you have to be very careful with."

"Both inside and out." Clay said, just as his phone buzzed with a text message. He saw that it was from Ash and he knew what that meant.

"Everything ok?" Jason asked.

"Um ya, it's just Ash. He's coming by tonight to check in." Clay said, trying not to let Jason know he was worried about it.

Whenever Ash came around it was because he did something wrong, or he wanted to do more "training". Neither were pleasant experiences that Clay particularly wanted to go through.

"Are you ok with being there alone? I can be there with you if you'd like. Make sure he doesn't do anything."

Jason really did not want to leave Clay alone with Ash. He wanted to know exactly what the hell was going on between them. He didn't like the absolute terror that Clay had towards Ash. That didn't come from being put into a time out, that came from physical abuse. Jason was really hoping Kate would be able to get Clay emancipated and away from Ash.

"It's ok, I'll be fine. He won't like someone else being there. I'll be ok." Clay said, trying to ease Jason's worries.

"If you need me, you call me. I don't care what time of the night it is. I will always be there for you."

Clay gave a nod and Jason wasn't really confident if he would actually call him or not.

"Any chance you'll tell me more about your relationship with him? Or the punishments?" Jason asked, gently.

"I can say no?" Clay asked, slightly unsure.

"You can always say no. That was the deal."

Jason wished it wasn't the deal, but Clay needed to know that he didn't have to be forced to do anything he didn't want to do, especially outside of the field. He needed that power back and Jason had to respect it.

"No." Clay said, softly.

"Ok, but know when you are ready, I'll be there to listen. No judgments, no lectures."

Clay gave a nod and they finished eating their food. Once they were done Jason had no choice, but to drive Clay back to his apartment and drop him off. Clay had already brought his book bag with him so they didn't need to go to Jason's place to pick anything up. He was hoping to be able to get Clay to stay with him again tonight, but he knew that Clay wouldn't with Ash coming over. After saying goodbye to Clay and watching to make sure he got in ok, Jason headed back to his place. Once he got there he sent everyone a text saying to meet tonight at the Bulkhead. He needed a drink and he needed to tell the guys what he had discovered about Clay. He then called Blackburn to see what he had.

"Blackburn."

"Hey Eric, I was wondering if Kate had anything for us?"

"Nothing solid just yet, but she is confident in getting Clay emancipated. He would need to prove he can support himself, but with working in the military he has a good paying job and he has an apartment. Also, interestingly enough, there is a clause within Virginia that a minor of sixteen years or older can seek emancipation if they are serving any branch within the United States Armed Forces. Kate says it's a very old clause, but it is still active to this date."

"So with Clay being in the Navy he is entitled to being emancipated should he wish?"

That would be awesome if that was possible. It would make things even more simpler with Clay being in the Navy. He knew Ash would get the paperwork that Clay filed in the courts for emancipation, but they could time it right for when Clay was in the new apartment.

"That is correct. We have his contract that we can file along with the emancipation. She's confident that we can make it happen. It'll be a little bit complicated because Ash has control of his money. He would have to sign over the bank account to him and release his money. I don't even know if Ash would be willing to do it. We would also have to make changes to his paperwork within the Navy to ensure he was getting paid properly moving forward. Then it becomes a matter of fighting his contract."

"Is there any wiggle room in his contract?"

"Well, like I said in terms of when he will no longer be enlisted is off the table. However, as you know everyone is entitled to the standard number of vacation days each year. Clay hasn't had any. He's owed six months, so he could in theory take those days and be off for six months if he wanted to be. Kate would also like to see his past pay stubs to make sure he received everything he was supposed to. She also said if Clay's money is not the proper amount, that Ash spent it, that we could take Ash to court and sue him for it. That would be up to Clay though."

"I don't know if he would do that. He's so terrified of Ash. Money isn't everything, if what he has been entitled to is gone, he'll be able to move forward with getting his full paychecks. The most important thing is getting him away from Clay and we gotta do it soon. He's just terrified of him. I had to just drop Clay off at his place because Ash was coming by tonight to see him. His whole demeanor changed in a second."

"Kate can file right away for the emancipation, but Ash will get a copy of it. I don't think he should be at his apartment when that happens."

"No, he can't be there. We'll have to wait until next month when Clay will be at his new apartment. Can we keep his address private?"

"Kate will be able to keep Clay's location completely confidential. And once we file, we can have a restraining order against Ash so he can't be around him or on base. We'll protect him from Ash. Ash will fight for a bit, but then he'll get tired and go his own way."

"Good. Do we have someone that can do some very discrete investigating?"

"Ya, we got someone. Why?"

"Last night I found out from Clay that he's been raped by other people on teams he's been on and targets that teams would send him in to distract. He was also raped, not that he believes it, at twelve like it's in his medical file, but it was someone on his team. Him and Clay are supposedly in a relationship, have been since he was twelve. Clay won't tell me who it is, but I want to know." Jason said with an edge to his voice.

He wanted to know so badly who this man was. Once he had a name he was going to make sure this son of a bitch never touched Clay again.

"For fuck sakes. I'll get someone on it. We'll find out who they are and make sure they pay for what they have done. Keep trying to get names out of him, maybe he'll finally tell you."

"I'll work on it with him. I appreciate everything Kate is doing. Thank her for me."

"Of course. Time off active duty has been approved for the month."

"Perfect. That will give the kid time to rest and heal up."

That was one last thing they had to worry about right now. Clay could also focus on his school work and get his exams done.

"I'll see you Monday."

"Thanks Eric."

Jason ended the call. They were at least getting somewhere with protecting Clay. They had a long way to go, but it was a real start.

_**A/N: I just wanted to let you know that I have started a new story with a Clay and Jason romance story. So if you like to read some Slash between Clay and Jason you can read it on AO3. There is a lot of sex within the story and series, so I have it up there instead of on here. It is called Becoming Zulu.**_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Jason made his way into the Bulkhead and sat down at the table where the guys were, a beer and whiskey waiting for him. He really needed this drink right now. He could not believe what he had discovered from Clay last night. He needed to tell the guys about it so they were aware of what the situation was. He also wanted to talk to them about what he discovered about Clay today at lunch and the update from Blackburn. Sitting at the table was not only Bravo, but Derek and Full Metal as well. Jason took a drink from his whiskey as Ray spoke.

"Bad day?"

"Not really, Friday was rough."

"What happened?" Full Metal asked.

"First an update from Eric. Kate believes she can get Clay emancipated. Not only can we prove neglect with his military contract starting at twelve-years-old, but there is a clause within Virginia that anyone sixteen and older who is actively employed by the United States Armed Forces can legally be emancipated."

"That's perfect then. Clay can get emancipated and be done with Ash." Derek said, pleased that they have a viable option to remove Clay from Ash's abuse.

"There is a hiccup with it. Ash has control of his bank account, with the emancipation, he would have to sign the account back over to Clay including the money in it. There's no guarantee that the money Clay has earned over the past four years will even be in it. He might have to accept the loss of close to a hundred grand." Jason said, not impressed.

"There's no way that Ash still has that money." Sony said.

"I highly doubt it. Clay could take Ash to court, file charges against him for spending the money that he was entrusted with, but I doubt that he would ever do that. We would also need to make sure that the banking info is correct for Clay at work moving forward. I would even try and get Clay to agree to opening a new bank account, one we wouldn't have to worry about Ash having knowledge of." Jason said.

"I think that would be the best option. We don't need Ash stealing his money because he has access to it. When can we do it? Ray asked.

"I'm thinking starting next month. Let him get through his exams and into his new apartment. Ash will be told about the emancipation once it is filed. Kate said we can keep Clay's address a secret and have a restraining order filed. Ash will eventually give up and leave Clay alone, we just need to keep him safe until that happens." Jason answered.

"We will." Sonny promised.

"Any wiggle room in his enlistment?" Derek asked.

"No, it's solid. But Kate did discover that some things can be tweaked. He doesn't have any vacation days and legally he is entitled to them. He's got about six months' worth of vacation days that he could take. Kate is also going to request his pay stubs for the past four years to make sure they haven't skimmed any off the top on him."

"Well at least it's something." Trent said.

"It's better then nothing. He's only sixteen, even if he is out all of that money, it won't ruin him. He'll still be able to save up and build a saving fund up. He'll be able to eventually get a house if he wants and have money for a family." Ray said.

"Might not be a bad idea to teach him about budgeting. Eventually he'll be a sixteen year old making three grand a month." Derek pointed out.

"It's something that can be discussed once we're at that point. Clay also agreed to doing the IQ testing. He was interested in doing it, said he always knew he wasn't normal. He said he has always been able to remember everything he sees, hears and reads. I think it'll come back that he has a photographic memory." Jason supplied.

"Which makes this life even harder." Trent said, concerned for Clay's mental health.

"We gotta figure out some positive stress relief for him." Derek said.

"He loves music. When he was talking about it, his face lit up. He loves to sing, he plays multiple instruments, he writes songs and even plays around with recording equipment. He's got a real passion for it." Jason supplied.

"He even has a music glass next year." Sonny added.

"That's good. That lets him have a positive outlet for all of the darkness we see in the world." Derek said.

"That doesn't sound so bad, why the need for a drink?" Full Metal asked.

"Friday night I brought Clay back to my place so he could get some decent sleep and be able to work on his homework without all of the noise. When we walked into my place I asked if he was hungry, he then proceeded to grab my crotch and asked me how I like it. When I told him no and pulled his hand away, he then proceeded to tell me that I was more of a mouth and ass man."

"What the fuck?" Sonny said outraged.

"That's clearly not the first time he's done that." Ray added.

"Nope. When I told him I didn't want anything sexual from him he was genuinely confused. I sat him down and explained that myself and no one in the teams would ever expect anything sexual from him. He would never have to do anything with any of us or with a target. He was relieved that he wouldn't have to sleep with a target anymore." Jason said, with his anger starting to come through again.

"He was sleeping with targets?" Full Metal said disgusted.

"The teams were making him. He's gotten STDs from it. Started when he was twelve. Medical file shows he was raped and given an STD, a member of his team at the time had the exact strand of STD. A team member raped him." Trent answered.

"Are you fucking kidding me? What was done about it?" Derek asked, pissed off now.

"Nothing, it was all swept under the rug. I did ask Clay about it last night, we were already through the looking glass. He said he wasn't raped. That they were in love and he would never hurt him like that." Jason said, still furious by all of this.

"In love? He was twelve, there ain't no love about it." Sonny said.

"He's still seeing him. They've been sleeping together for four years now. Clay won't tell me his name or anything about him. He just says he loves him and after that first time was careful to not hurt him again."

"Careful or not it's dangerous for a twelve year old to be having anal sex, it's dangerous for him to be at sixteen." Trent said.

"And I told him that. I had a very awkward conversation about anal sex and stretching. Trent you will be giving Mickey the sex talk and not me, I just did one and I can't do another one." Jason said, he really didn't want another sex talk in his future.

"What the hell are we doing about this son of a bitch?" Full Metal asked.

"I have Eric looking into it. We'll see if we can find out who this guy is and then we'll make sure he never goes near the kid ever again." Jason said with a deadly edge to his voice.

"Gonna fucking kill him." Full Metal said.

The guys could all agree on that, but it wouldn't be that simple unfortunately. They couldn't just kill a Seal and have it go unnoticed. Before anymore could be said, Jason's phone started to ring. He didn't recognize the number, but he answered it just in case it was Clay.

"Hayes."

"Boss." Clay's voice was filled with pain and Jason could have sworn he was crying.

"Clay, where are you?" Jason asked, gently as he was already getting up.

The others doing the same, ready to go wherever they needed to.

"Home. It hurts, it hurts so bad." Clay whispered, as he fought to stop the tears.

"Is Ash there with you?" Jason asked, before speaking to the others. "He's at his apartment."

They all ran to different vehicles, going in groups instead of their own cars. With Jason in his was Trent, Ray and Sonny.

"He's in the living room with Missy from across the hall. He doesn't know I have my phone. I'm not supposed to have it." Clay whispered.

"Ok, if you hear him moving towards the bathroom, I want you to keep the phone on, but hide it somewhere quick. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes."

The next thing Jason heard was throwing up. Jason put the phone on speaker so he could focus on driving. Once Clay finished throwing up they could hear him groaning in pain.

"Spense it's Trent. Can you tell me what hurts?"

"Everything. It's never hurt this much before. There's never been blood."

"It's gonna be ok, we're on our way. It's all going to be ok kid." Trent said.

"Oh fuck yes!" A woman's voice screamed out.

"Is that?" Sonny asked.

"His kid is sick and in pain right there and he's screwing the hooker from across the hall." Ray said, disgusted by this.

"I should get you to fuck my worthless boy. Might make him a man and not a pathetic pussy." Ash's voice came next, followed by Clay throwing up again.

"I don't know what he is sick with, but I'm worried he might not be sick. If Ash hurt him, he could be bleeding internally." Trent said to Jason.

"Clay, can you hear me kid?" Jason asked, once the throwing up stopped again.

"Ya." Clay said, with tears streaming down his face.

"I know you said it hurts, but how did you get hurt? Did Ash hit you?"

Before Clay could answer they heard shuffling and they could only assume that meant Clay was hiding the phone. They could hear the sound of footsteps followed by the sound of the curtain being pulled back.

"You're pathetic. A real man would take his training seriously. We wouldn't even have to do this if I hadn't discovered you didn't come home last night. Who were you out being a whore for? Who did you let fuck you this time?" Ash said.

They could hear the sound of someone being hit, followed by Clay's cry of pain.

"Stop, please make this stop." Clay cried, as the pain became too much.

"Are you begging? How many times do I have to tell you, men never beg." Ash said, with a deadly tone.

"Jase, drive faster." Ray said, worried about what Ash would do to Clay.

"You never seem to learn. You're weak. This is the only way to make you strong, to make you something other than worthless. But you continue to prove me and everyone right. You are nothing but a weak, pathetic, worthless piece of shit. All you will ever be good for is being a whore. You can't actually believe that Bravo will protect you. That they'll see you as anything other than a waste of space. I guarantee you they are just waiting for the right moment to fuck the shit out of you. Take your punishment like a man."

They heard a distinctive snapping sound, followed by a scream of pain from Clay. Ash had just broken something.

"I'm gonna kill this son of a bitch." Sonny growled.

Jason was visibly shaking with rage as he had no choice but to listen to the abuse that Clay was going through. They had no idea what exactly was going on, but they could assume what was going on based on the sounds. They heard another snap, followed by a pop and then more hitting. They heard Clay letting out a cry of pain each and every time, which seemed to make Ash more pissed off. Jason pulled up out front of Clay's apartment and they were out of the truck instantly. The others were pulling in behind him from Full Metal's truck.

They all ran inside and Jason led the way, as he knew exactly where Clay's apartment was. Jason was instantly opening Clay's apartment door and went straight to the bathroom. He walked in to see Clay bleeding on the ground in pain and Ash standing over him, punching him across his head. Jason's hands were instantly on Ash, pulling him back. Jason turned Ash around before he slammed his fist right across his jaw, knocking Ash down to the ground. Trent and Derek were instantly in the bathroom to check on Clay. He had blood all over his face and there was blood on the floor, but also all over the toilet. Clay had been throwing up blood.

"Hang on Spense, we got you." Trent said, as he bent down to better look at Clay.

Clay didn't get to say anything though, because he started to throw up more blood once again, only this time he didn't have the strength to try and get to the toilet. Trent didn't even bother trying to get out of the way, Clay's blood was already on his jeans from him kneeling on the floor. He did place his hand on Clay's back to offer what support he could. Derek noticed a glass vial in the sink. He reached over and grabbed it and saw what was written on it.

"Clay, did Ash give this to you?" Derek asked, as he bent down to show Clay.

Clay managed to open his eyes to see what Derek had.

"He made me drink it. It hurts a lot." Clay's whole body was shaking from the pain. He couldn't remember the last time Ash had put him through this much pain.

Trent looked over at the vial and instantly was on edge.

"We gotta go, now." Trent said.

Derek was already leaving and went over to where the guys were. Ray, Brock and Full Metal were holding Jason back. Ash was bleeding from his lip and he looked like he had a black eye already starting to come through.

"I need keys right now." Derek said, Full Metal knew him the best and could instantly pick up on the panic in his voice. Full Metal easily tossed his truck keys over to Derek without any hesitation.

"Clay we gotta get you to the hospital. I'm gonna pick you up, I'm sorry if it hurts." Trent said, before he picked Clay up bridal style.

"What's going on?" Sonny asked, worried about Clay's condition.

"He needs the hospital now." Trent said, as he headed out of the bathroom with Clay.

Both him and Derek were running out of the door with Sonny hot on their heels.

"I'm gonna have your career Hayes. You have no right coming in here." Ash said, pissed.

"You have no right putting your hands on that kid. You're done Ash. You are never going to be around him again." Jason said, as he moved closer.

Ray went and stepped in front of Jason, keeping him from getting to Ash again. He knew that Jason would have loved to kill him, but Ash would have made it his mission to end Jason's career and he could still take it out on Clay.

Ash just laughed at that. "You're not letting yourself care about that piece of shit are you?"

"You have always been an idiot, blind to see what was right in front of you. You have no idea how amazing that kid is. He's not a worthless piece of shit, you are. Tonight is the last time you will ever see him."

Jason didn't care what he had to do, he was going to make sure Ash never laid a hand on Clay again. It pissed Jason off that Clay was so fucking special and Ash couldn't even see it.

"Grab his stuff." Jason said to the others without taking his eyes off Ash.

Ray and Brock made quick work of grabbing Clay's clothes and his school bag. He didn't really have much of anything else.

"We gotta get to the kid. We'll deal with him later." Full Metal said to Jason.

He wanted blood too, but he also knew that something was seriously wrong with Clay for Derek to be panicked. They had to go. Jason didn't say anything, he just turned and headed out with the guys right behind him. Jason pulled out his cell phone as they headed back down to his truck.

"Blackburn."

"Clay's on the way to the hospital. He called me, Ash beat him real bad. Get Kate to start the emancipation process in the morning. I'm not waiting a month to get him away from Ash."

"I'll meet you at the hospital." Was all Blackburn said before he hung up.

They got into Jason's truck and headed off for the hospital.

"We start that process and it is going to piss Ash off even more. We gotta get the kid someplace safe." Ray said.

"He can stay with me. Either until he can move into the new apartment or until he turns eighteen for all I care. I'm not waiting a month before we start the process. That's too long, too many times Ash can do something to him. I am not leaving him unprotected against that son of a bitch." Jason said with an edge to his voice.

That was something they all could agree on. Jason drove to the hospital as quickly as he could without risking getting pulled over by the police. By the time they arrived they headed straight for the ER where they saw Derek, Trent and Sonny pacing around.

"What do we know?" Jason asked.

"We found an empty vial of botulinum in the bathroom sink. Clay said Ash made him drink it. Botulinum is a chemical compound within Botox, now in a small concentrated dose injected within the first two layers of your skin it's not toxic. However, you ingest it without it being diluted, it will kill you. It causes intense pain, muscle spasms and you throw up blood. There is an antidote which Clay is being given now and with luck we caught it in time for there to not be any lingering side effects." Trent explained.

"The bastard poisoned him?" Full Metal said through clenched teeth.

"He also broke two fingers on his left hand, dislocated his left shoulder, and beat the living hell out of him." Derek added.

"Next to the poisoning I am worried about his concussion. He had additional blows to his head, he had blood all over his face, I'm worried the concussion will be made worse or even develop into a skull fracture." Trent said.

"When will we know anything?" Jason asked.

"The doc said he would come out once he had Clay stabilized and testing done. It's gonna be a few hours and he won't let anyone in there with him because we are not legally family." Trent answered. The last part was pissing him off. None of them liked having a brother hurt in the hospital and having to leave them to face it alone. It was worse that it was Clay.

"Great." Jason grumbled, as he went and started to pace himself. There was one thing that Jason hated, it was waiting.

It was an hour later when Blackburn and his wife walked into the ER waiting room. There was also another older woman with them.

"Anything?" Blackburn asked.

"Ash forced Clay to drink Botulinum, he also beat him. The Doc is working on getting the poison under control and then he'll run tests. He won't let anyone back there with him." Jason answered.

"And there is an antidote for that?" Kate asked.

"There is. We don't know what side effects there could be from the poison. It just depends on how long it was in his system." Trent answered.

"Who's she?" Sonny asked, with a nod to the other woman.

"This is my friend Martha, she is with DCFS. I called her once Eric informed me of what happened tonight. Come tomorrow morning I will be filing with the court to have Clay emancipated." Kate answered.

"However, until it is ruled Ash will still legally have custody of Clay. He could try and take Clay somewhere, hide him away so he misses his court hearing. DCFS needs to be involved to ensure Clay's safety. A temporary restraining order will be placed against Ash Spenser to keep him away from Clay. Temporary custody will be handed over to a foster home where Clay will live until he is either granted emancipation or if denied until he is eighteen when legally he is an adult and becomes too old for the system." Martha continued.

"Foster home." Sonny said, shocked that he would have to go into the foster system.

"Before you get too worked up, we have explained the situation to Martha regarding Clay being in the Navy. She has agreed to allow Clay to go into temporary custody of someone within the Navy. He would need to live with that person until he is emancipated then he could get his own place." Blackburn said, before the others could comment further.

"He can stay with me." Jason instantly said.

"I already figured he would. Paperwork can be filled out tonight and filed by morning." Blackburn said.

What do you need?" Jason asked Martha.

Martha pulled out some paperwork from her bag and sat down next to Jason. They spent the next hour going over paperwork, but it was finally completed and Jason would officially be Clay's temporary guardian until his court date. It was another two hours when the doctor finally came out and towards them. They all got up and held his hand up to stop them before they could ask any questions.

"All I can tell you is that he is alive and will make a full recovery. I can't release any more than that without permission from his legal guardian."

"I'm Martha Stewart with DCFS. Clay is being placed within our custody, his father is the one responsible for his injuries and his mother is deceased. He will be placed in Master Chief Hayes' custody temporarily until Clay's emancipation court hearing is completed. Any medical decisions will be made by him." Martha said.

"I'm Jason Hayes, you can tell us what Clay's situation is."

"Very well. Clay was given a moderate dose of botulinum. I was able to give him the antidote in time and he will be able to recover without any side effects from the poison. The bleeding has stopped and he is no longer throwing up blood. His muscle spasms are slowing down and the pain will linger for a couple more days. I have splintered his two fingers, index and middle, on his left hand. His left shoulder has also been set and is in a sling. Aside from those injuries he also has three cracked ribs on his left side. He is covered in bruises, his left eye is badly bruised and slightly swollen. He also has bruising around his neck, suggesting he was strangled. His concussion is also a grade three. On top of all of that, he is malnourished. He needs bed rest and proper food."

"We have been working with him on getting more sleep and eating properly. He's been abused for many years." Trent said.

"When can he be released?" Jason asked.

"Two days, assuming he rests." The Doc answered.

"He'll be in bed until he's cleared to be anywhere else. Can I see him?" Jason asked.

"He's in room three-twelve. He needs to be sleeping, but he seems to be having a hard time closing his eyes. He seems very unsettled and anxious to be here. I offered to give him something to calm himself down, but he refused."

"I'll get him to sleep. Thank-you Doc." Jason said.

"I'll be by to check on him throughout the night. One of you can stay with him, but the rest need to leave until visiting hours after you see him. This is a hospital, not a B&B." The doctor said before he headed out.

"I am sure you need to speak with Clay, but not tonight. He needs sleep tonight." Jason said to Martha.

"I agree. I'll come by your place in a few days and explain everything then. By then we will also have been able to file all of the paperwork with the court for his emancipation." Martha said.

"I appreciate it." Jason said.

"I think it would be best right now if just Jason sees Clay. Let him have some time to rest and some peace. He's not used to a bunch of people, we don't want to overcrowd him." Blackburn said.

"He's right, Clay won't do well with all of us in a small hospital room. Let him know we're thinking of him and we'll see him soon." Ray said to Jason.

"I will. You can always come by tomorrow in groups of two." Jason said. He knew the guys wanted to see Clay, but he also knew that Clay would not be ready for that. He needed more time to get used to the team first.

"We'll come by tomorrow. Let us know if there is anything you need." Trent said.

Jason gave a nod and he started to make his way towards the elevator so he could go up and see Clay. He had a feeling that Clay wouldn't like being in a hospital too much with him being a kid, plus his background in the Navy. It made sense why Clay would prefer to be home then in a hospital. Jason was pissed about Ash for what he had done to Clay. He wanted to beat the living shit out of the man, but he would have to settle for keeping Clay away from him. He would figure out a way to ruin Ash's reputation and make sure he had nothing left.

Jason arrived at Clay's hospital room and headed in. He noticed that all of the lights were on and Clay was on his right side. He looked like he was in pain and he had a slight tremble to his body. At the sound of the door opening, Clay's eyes snapped over to it and saw that it was Jason. Clay didn't know what had come over him, but the second he saw Jason he started to cry. Jason was immediately moving to the bed and he very carefully moved Clay so he could lay down next to him. He pulled Clay into his arms and Clay buried his face into Jason's chest and cried his heart and soul out. Jason placed on his arms carefully around Clay so he wouldn't hurt his injuries.

"It's ok Sunshine, you're safe now. He's never going to hurt you again." Jason promised.

Clay continued to cry in Jason's arms for a solid fifteen minutes. The whole time Jason just told him he was safe. Jason knew this was a lot for Clay to handle and it wasn't just magically going to be better. They still had a long road to go with Ash and with whoever Clay was supposedly dating. Still, it was a fight Jason was more than prepared to battle no matter how long it took. When the tears finally stopped coming, Jason continued to hold Clay. He ran his hand up and down his back slowly and it didn't take long before Clay was fast asleep. Jason knew that sometimes, no matter your age, you just needed someone to hold you that felt safe before you could finally fall asleep. Jason was more than happy to be that person for Clay and he always will be.

XXX

Ash was physically shaking with rage towards Jason and Bravo. They thought they could just storm into his life and take Clay from him, they were wrong. He wasn't going to let Clay go no matter what. That kid was his ticket to fame and fortune and he was not about to lose him to anyone, lets of all Jason fucking Hayes. He was going to make sure they all paid, no matter what.

_**Ok I am completely conflicted on how this story should go from this point forward. So I am going to do something that I have never done before. From this point forward I am going to write two different versions of this story. One will be posted here where the team manages to keep Clay safe from Ash. The second one will be posted on AO3, where Ash gets Clay away from Bravo and they have to fight to get him back.**_

_**This version from here on out will be free from any sex at all. The one on AO3 will show more abuse from Ash and more manipulation by Dave. If you would like to read that version you can do so on AO3. **_


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